Punters were tallying up the lucrative order book at Babcock International as they piled in to the engineering group yesterday. The British engineering outsourcer, which started life in 1891 when a US boiler maker opened its first UK office, reported results ahead of expectations, with profits up 30 per cent.

Investors in Standard Chartered were singing the blues yesterday. The Asia-focused banking group's share price fell to the bottom of the pile after punters caught wind that the activist investor Muddy Waters was shorting the stock. Carson Block, founder of Muddy Waters, a US short-seller, said at a hedge fund conference in Las Vegas that he had bought five-year credit default swaps on Standard Chartered. He is betting against the group because of its "deteriorating" loan quality.

New York menswear designer John Varvatos, backed by Lion Capital, plans to take on the European fashion world with shops in major cities across the continent. The brand, which was founded in 2000 and counts celebrities Zac Efron and Ben Affleck as fans, will first open in London next year and hopes to add stores in Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Germany.

Rising gas and electric bills are making energy providers extremely unpopular. There is outcry over the bonuses paid to its executives and now British Gas has even become unpopular with its shareholders. Its owner, Centrica, will update the market today. Analysts think it will admit it has been hit by business and home customers looking elsewhere for better deals to reduce their ever-increasing bills.

News that the world’s top platinum producer has bowed to union pressure and slashed the number of job cuts it planned has left investors worried about the future of the industry.

US giant Kraft met with powerful resistance when it took over Cadbury. Now, as Mondelez, it is winning over the critics and its factory in Sheffield is making Oreo cookies

A visit by inspectors from North York Moors national park caused jitters in the City yesterday for potash miner Sirius Minerals.

Shares in the bike retailer Halfords were pumped up to a two-year high yesterday on hopes in the City it is now on the right track. The analyst Georgina Johanan at JPMorgan said she thinks the bike and car accessories specialist is putting its "wheels back in motion" with better customer service, more products and a better online business.

Travel agent is set to outsource property team to make the most from high street closures

All eyes were on ENRC yesterday as the City speculated on the motive behind Russian billionaire Suleyman Kerimov’s stakebuilding in the troubled Kazakh miner. ENRC, which is the subject of a Serious Fraud Office investigation into allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption, has seen its shares fall more than 17 per cent since the claims emerged.