In brief: Sun shines on Waitrose sales, BMW makes more price cuts in China, Pimco dampens Allianz results

Fresh from a profit warning, Waitrose today revealed sales continued to rise, jumping 5.3% last week.

The hot weather saw shoppers keen to stock up on fish — sales of salmon jumped 309% last week compared with a year earlier.

The company also claimed the Commonwealth Games helped drive ready meals up 13%. Last week bosses admitted it has been hit by the supermarket price war, warning cuts are hurting profits.

BMW today followed its German rivals Audi and Mercedes-Benz by slashing prices of spare car parts in China. The country’s government has launched probes to expose what it describes as anti-competitive behaviour in the industry.

BMW has already cut prices for 3300 spare parts in China by 15% and will now reduce 2000 components by 20%, the carmaker said.

Investors pulled out more than €20 billion (£15.93 billion) from bond manager Pimco in the second quarter, casting a shadow over results at its parent company, Allianz. Operating profits of €2.8 billion in the quarter ending June 30, put the insurer on track for a record group profit in 2014. “We expect the upper end of the target range to be in reach,” Allianz’s chief executive Michael Diekmann said.