Today

The legendary fund manager Anthony Bolton lost £1m of his own fortune last year by backing his struggling Fidelity China Special Situations trust, according to the broker Collins Stewart.

In profit...

Antonio Horta-Osario, the stressed-out chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group, confirmed that he would be back at work in the new year.

One of the City's best-known stockbrokers, Collins Stewart Hawkpoint, has been bought by Canadian giant Canaccord for £253 million.

During two meetings that were secretly recorded in June and July 2011, two undercover reporters talked with Tim Collins, managing director of Bell Pottinger Public Affairs, David Wilson, chairman of Bell Pottinger Public Relations, and former diplomat Sir David Richmond, who works for the firm's "strategic communications and geopolitical" specialist arm, Bell Pottinger Sans Frontières. Below are extracts of the conversations which took place.

Punters were plugging back into Pace yesterday as the beleaguered set-top box maker – which has issued three profit warnings in a year – was finally on the receiving end of some good news.

International Power was on a firm footing last night as investors moved in on the prospect of gains following the power generator's investments in Latin America, the Middle East and other fast-growing energy markets which have keep it ahead of less nimble European rivals.

City analysts warned that the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) had become a "no-go" for investors worried about corporate governance issues yesterday as the Kazakh miner sought to reassure the market by saying that its widely-watched boardroom review was "well under way".

Bid rumours may have been a large part of the winning formula that has sent its share price soaring over the past few months, but Yule Catto's takeover hopes were dealt a blow yesterday, prompting the speciality chemicals company to sink towards the foot of the mid-tier index.

The recruitment companies are in focus this week, with both Hays and Robert Walters releasing updates as fears continue over the state of the private sector market in the UK.

SAB Miller vowed yesterday to keep talking to the board of Foster's after Australia's biggest brewer rejected an all-cash A$9.5bn takeover bid by the world's second-largest brewing concern, saying that it significantly undervalued the company.

Charter

Investors pulled the plug on Aggreko last night over fears its market leader status could be in jeopardy, leaving the temporary power supplier at the foot of the top-tier index.

The utilities have been awash with bid speculation recently, and yesterday Severn Trent became the latest in the sector to find itself back in the takeover spotlight.