No matter how volatile the markets may have been, dropping a third of its share price in just three months after floating has not been seen as a success for Glencore International. The controversial commodities trader came to market in May in what was London's largest ever IPO before being fast-tracked into the FTSE 100, yet has only once finished a session above its 530p float price.

Ofcom has fined TalkTalk the largest amount ever for a British telecoms provider after it continued to charge thousands of customers who had cancelled its service.

Official jobs figures are today expected to show the rate at which unemployment in the UK is falling slowed in the three months to June.

He's back at Evolution Securities? Isn't there a bid battle there?

Despite widespread economic gloom, rich people's love affair with sprawling mansions continues. Figures published today show a 10 per cent rise in the number of luxury homes on the market compared with the same period last year.

As a sell-off of the European banks prompted the top-tier index into another major slide, voices in the City were yesterday mulling over which companies were looking vulnerable to a takeover in the wake of the recent market turmoil.

Evolution Securities has agreed to buy BNP Paribas' private client investment unit as it gears up to fend off a takeover approach of its own.

South African banking giant Investec was yesterday unveiled as the mystery suitor for Evolution Group, the UK stockbroker. The firm revealed on Wednesday it had received a preliminary approach, but declined to name the party, sending the broker's shares up by 8.5 per cent.

BSkyB promised to hand back more than £1bn to shareholders as it posted a 23 per cent rise in annual profits yesterday, but one major investor complained the windfall could have been higher.

The cigarette giant Imperial Tobacco said the price war and the smoking ban in Spain hit its performance over the past nine months, but said the impact on full-year profits would not be as bad as previously expected.

Its rise up the mid-tier index meant De La Rue's investors were in the money last night, as City scribblers talked up both the banknote printer's takeover potential and the chances of it executing a successful turnaround.

Investors hoping that the sale of its market-research arm will prompt a full break-up of Aegis received a blow yesterday, as the advertising group followed the wider market down.