Closing summary
Diageo, which owns the Guinness and Johnnie Walker brands, is to replace its embattled chief executive, ending her rocky tenure in charge of the British alcoholic drinks firm.
In a statement to the stock market, Diageo said it had begun the hunt for a successor to Debra Crew, who the company said had stepped down “by mutual agreement”.
Her departure follows a lengthy period of investor disquiet about the company’s lacklustre market performance under the former captain in US military intelligence.
The London-based company’s chief financial officer, Nik Jhangiani, will lead the business on an interim basis.
UK inflation unexpectedly rose in June driven by fuel and food prices, according to official figures, underscoring the challenge facing the chancellor, Rachel Reeves.
The Office for National Statistics said the consumer prices index rose by 3.6% last month. City economists and the Bank of England had forecast it would remain the same as May’s reading of 3.4%.
The increase was largely caused by by petrol and diesel prices falling only slightly in June compared with a much larger decrease a year earlier, alongside food price inflation rising for a third consecutive month to the highest rate in more than a year.
Driving the headline rate further away from the Bank’s 2% target, the rise was announced as Labour faces intense scrutiny over its economic management after two months of negative growth and with speculation mounting over tax rises.
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Thank you for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow. Take care – JK
Here’s our full story on Barclays:
Barclays has been fined £42m over “poor handling” of financial crime risks linked to two clients, including a gold bullion business run by James Stunt, the former son-in-law of Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the bulk of the penalties, about £39.3m, related to Barclays’ failure to properly screen Stunt’s business – Stunt & Co – and its relationship with Fowler Oldfield, a Bradford jeweller now infamously linked to a large money-laundering operation.
The failures spanned 2015 to 2021, and Stunt & Co ultimately received £46.8m from Fowler Oldfield.
Barclays was made aware of the fact that Fowler Oldfield was the subject of a criminal investigation involving potential money laundering in August 2016. But the bank only started to review of its exposure to the company four years later, when the FCA fined NatWest more than £264m over its relationship the purported jeweller.
