Aveva, Tata Steel, Inditex: Business news in brief on Wednesday June 15

Aveva and Schneider Electric call off deal talks again; Tata Steel issues pro-EU memo to UK staff;Zara Owner Inditex stays ahead of the competition

The owner of Port Talbot steelworks has intervened in the Brexit debate (PA)

Aveva and Schneider Electric call off deal talks again

Shares in Aveva, a UK engineering software developer, fell 16 per cent on Wednesday after the company revealed that a second round of merger talks with Schneider Electric, the French industrial group, had collapsed.

The announcement came just two days after the companies said they were making another attempt to strike a deal with a potential value of about £2 billion.

Tata Steel issues pro-EU memo to UK staff

Tata Steel has become the latest employer to write to its staff on the benefits of the UK's EU membership.

The steel company urged employees to “give careful thought” to the referendum because access to the EU market is “fundamental to its business”.

The message follows similar comments from Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and BT earlier this week.

Zara owner Inditex stays ahead of the competition

Inditex, the owner of chains including Zara and Pull & Bear, has reported better-than-expected quarterly profits.

It outpaced rival H&M with a 12 per cent rise in quarterly sales against the Swedish company’s 5 per cent.

Inditex benefited from online expansion and demand for Zara’s lingerie-inspired dresses and oversized shirts. H&M’s sales picked up in May after cold weather hit growth in March and April.

Alibaba chief Jack Ma says fakes are better quality than authentic luxury goods

Jack Ma, chairman of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, said many fake goods are now of better quality and cheaper than the authentic articles.

“They are exactly the same factories, exactly the same raw materials but they do not use the name, ”Jack Ma said. Alibaba, China’s biggest online retailer, has been strongly criticised for failing to do enough to stop counterfeit goods being sold on platforms such as Taobao.

In May, Alibaba was suspended from the International Anti Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC) watchdog over piracy concerns.