It is always easy to blame the weather. While most stocks on the Footsie were heating up yesterday, Kingfisher ended up looking rather soggy amid warnings that the recent downpours may result in the retailer's trading update at the end of the month turning out to be a bit of a damp squib.

Today

The shares of the bus company go down, down, down. FirstGroup remained stuck in reverse gear yesterday, as those at the wheel of the transport firm came under fire following last week's admission that margins at its UK bus unit would drop by more than a third this year.

Today

Peter Voser, the chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, saw his total pay packet more than double in 2011, a year when shareholders in the oil supermajor had to make do with flat dividend payouts.

Royal Bank of Scotland and former directors including former chief executive Fred Goodwin and former chairman Sir Tom McKillop have been hit with a £2.4bn legal claim from angry investors in the taxpayer bailed-out bank.

Shareholders claim the bailed-out bank's former bosses misled them over a rights issue in 2008

There's no stubbing out the takeover talk around Imperial Tobacco at the moment. The cigarette manufacturer, whose brands include Lambert & Butler, set a new, all-time high last night, after its share price once again lit up on suggestions its days of independence might be numbered.

Optimism that conditions might be easing for clothing retailers persuaded investors to stock up on Next yesterday, despite claims the level of service on the high street is waning.

Bankers at Credit Suisse are set to take the biggest cut in bonuses so far in the 2011 bank reporting season. Across the group, which employs thousands in its Canary Wharf offices in London, the average bonus cut is 41 per cent. The 15 executive directors will take a 57 per cent cut.

Bankers at Credit Suisse are set to take the biggest cut in bonuses so far in the 2011 bank reporting season.

Morrisons laid bare the extent of subdued trading in the grocery sector yesterday, unveiling festive sales growth below expectations as it warned of another "tough year" ahead. The supermarket boasted of "outperforming" the sector as recently as November, but yesterday said that sales growth was only "in line with the market".

German mistrust of the euro was graphically illustrated by new figures published yesterday which revealed that over 13 billion worth of Deutsche Marks were still unaccounted for a decade after the introduction of the single currency

The troubled Yellow Pages publisher Yell has won a crucial breathing space after lenders agreed to relax rules on its £2.6bn debt load.