William Hill showed arch rival Ladbrokes a clean pair of heels today, reporting a boom in profits thanks to the success of its digital arm.

BHP's incoming chief executive Andrew Mackenzie has begun with a bang, cutting his own expected salary by a quarter and ousting the trio of senior staff who were chief contenders for his new job.

The City veteran Lord Rothschild continues to produce the goods at his investment trust RIT Capital Partners.

Michael Page saw its share price drop 5 per cent after the white collar recruiter admitted it had seen a double-digit plunge in profits at its French and German offices in the first three months of 2013.

Citigroup reported a 31 per cent rise in first-quarter profits as it drew down loss reserves for mortgage loans, and revenue from its securities and investment banking business swelled.

The American satellite TV group Dish has entered the race to merge with Sprint Nextel, the mobile-phone business that comes with precious wireless spectrum rights, tabling a $25.5bn (£16.65bn) bid that could thwart an earlier offer by Japan’s SoftBank.

Bookmaker Ladbrokes took a pasting at the Cheltenham festival last month, and with 62 days of other race meetings lost to the freezing weather in the first quarter it warned profits this year will be at the lower end of forecasts.

JP Morgan Chase, America’s largest bank by assets, surpassed expectations with its quarterly profits today, booking a 33 per cent rise as chief executive Jamie Dimon spoke of “positive signs” that the world’s largest economy is “healthy and getting stronger.”

Annual profits at Hays are set to come in at the top of City expectations, the white-collar recruiter has said. But Alistair Cox, the chief executive of the jobs giant that employs almost 8,000 staff of its own, warned: "We expect conditions to remain fragile."

Bird flu is threatening to throw KFC's owner Yum Brands, the biggest foreign fast-food chain operator in China, off its 11-year course of double-digit profit growth.

Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich missed out on a cheque for $77.5 million (£50.4 million) as the Russian steel company in which he is the biggest shareholder scrapped its final dividend.

The French media group Lagardère has sold its 7.4 per cent stake in Airbus's owner EADS for €2.3bn (£1bn), sparking an overhaul in ownership of Europe's biggest aircraft maker.

Outlook One notable difference between HBOS and Royal Bank of Scotland is that the former was far more savvy in matters of PR.

British gardeners have suffered one of the slowest starts to the growing season for years with daffodils and snowdrops still crowding the flowerbeds where bedding plants would normally be taking root by now.