The 10 things you need to know about business today

Here's what you need to know for today

Co-operative Bank has reported bigger losses in part due to higher legal costs (PA)

1.Co-operative Bank has reported bigger losses in part due to higher legal costs. The Co-op Bank said it made a loss of £204m in the first half of 2015, up from a £77m loss in the same period last year, however the figure was slightly better than expected

2. Australia's national carrier Qantas has reported a return to full-year profit and says it plans to buy new planes. The Australian airline has posted a net profit of $557m for the year to 30 June, compared to a record $2.8bn loss a year ago.

3. Aerospace engineer Meggitt has won a $39.8m contract from the US-based Defence Logistics. The three-year production contract, which ends in late 2018, will see first deliveries of its bullet-proof fuel cells in the last quarter of this year.

4. WH Smith said sales would beat expectations for the full year to the end of August, in a pre-close announcement issued this morning. The UK stationery chain said sales in its high street business were slightly ahead of expectations driven by book demand.

5. Greece made a 3.2 billion euro payment to the European Central Bank on a maturing government bond on Thursday, taking cash from its first disbursement of bailout money. Greece received the first tranche of funds from its new bailout loan today after the European Stability Mechanism approved a rescue of up to 86 billion euros on Wednesday.

6. Hong Kong stocks are in a bear market. After falling by a further 1.5% this morning, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index has now fallen over 20% from a high reached in April, the definition of a bear market.

7. Kazakhstan’s currency, the tenge, fell to a record 23% after the country relinquished control of its exchange rate. The country has switched to a free float and will pursue an inflation-targeting monetary policy

8. Amazon is targeting UK customers with a new Amazon Web Services data support in London. According to the Financial Times, it will be the first centre outside the US.

9. Phoenix Group, Britain's largest consolidator of closed life funds, said it had appointed Henry Staunton as chairman to succeed Sir Howard Davies. Mr Staunton, who is currently chairman of the retail group WH Smith Plc and rent-to-own company BrightHouse Group, previously served as the finance director of ITV.

10. UK retail sales are coming. At 9:30 a.m. London time we'll get July's retail sales figures for the UK. Analysts are expecting a 0.4% rise month-on-month and a 4.4% boost year-on-year.