City morning headlines: Carlsberg loses its fizz as China shares slide again
The team at brewer Carlsberg may be feeling like a drink after the company cut its profit forecast and they may find some drinking buddies in Chinese stock investors, who have seen shares in the country fall for a second day.
Here's a look at those stories and what else is making headlines today:
These stories are breaking and may develop throughout the day. Keep checking the Standard's business pages for the latest.
Carlsberg's glass half-empty outlook
Carlsberg, the world's fourth largest brewer, missed expectations with its second quarter results and lowered its forecast for the full-year, factoring in a slight fall in operating profit.
The trouble came from Russia and slower sales in Western Europe. New boss Cees 't Hart said he didn't think a strong performance in Asia could offset the weakness elsewhere.
He promised to speed up a restructuring of the company.
More despair for Chinese equity investors
Chinese shares followed up yesterday's 6% fall with a 3% retreat today as fears of less intervention by authorities mounted.
European traders are expected to sit on their hands for much of today ahead of the release of minutes of the US Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee.
Bank of England's Miles says rates will rise 'soon'
David Miles has become the latest Bank of England policymaker to speak out on interest rates, following in the footsteps of Kristin Forbes and her sunburn comments.
He stold the BBC that rates will rise "pretty soon" and such a move would be "a sign of health".
Companies news highlights:
Kuwait, Ontario Teachers and Hermes line up a £2 billion bid for City Airport versus one from Macquarie, according to a report.
Insurer Admiral's profit is up 1% at £186 million as 6% rise in UK car insurance profits is offset by losses at comparison websites compare.com and confused.com. Around 7700 of its employees are eligible for £1,800 share bonus.
Glencore swings from $1.7 billion net profit to $676 million loss in its first half. It takes massive writedowns and posts poor trading results.
Imperial Tobacco's first half revenues fall 4% as Iraq sales drop sharply. Its growth brands are up 15%.
Activist shareholder Sherbourne’s stake in Electra goes above 31%.
