The Business Matrix: Saturday 12 October 2013

Caffe Nero ducks corporation tax

Caffe Nero paid no corporation tax for a third year despite making a profit of £21.1m, according to its accounts. It did so by legally routing its operations through its parent in the Isle of Man and using subsidiaries.

Construction fails to build on boom

A house building surge failed to offset a summer blip for the wider building sector as industry output slipped back marginally. The Office for National Statistics said construction output edged 0.1 per cent lower during August.

Gem shares soar on £5m diamond

Gem Diamonds has sold two exceptional stones extracted from the highest diamond mine in the world, sending its shares up 2.5p to 153.5p. Top was a rare, 12.47-carat blue diamond, which fetched $7.5m (£4.7m).

Heathrow flyer numbers soar

Heathrow again packed more passengers into its terminals last month as flyer numbers rose 3.4 per cent to 6.6 million. The average number of passengers per flight rose to 164, up 1.5 per cent on September 2012.

Chemring expects £8m profits drop

The grenade and bomb detector maker Chemring has warned that the US political shutdown could hit its profitability. The firm said the deadlock and production problems were likely to cut operating profits by £8m.