BUSINESS LIVE: Microsoft takeover of Activision Blizzard cleared; Avon Protection earnings strengthen; Crest Nicholson names new CFO

Protective equipment maker Avon Protection achieved stronger trading during the second half of the last financial year.

The Wiltshire-based firm, which supplied gas masks during World War Two, revealed its order book at the end of September was up more than 10 per cent on the prior year.

The murderous Hamas attack on Israeli citizens, which has been met with ruthless retaliation, has been compared to the Yom Kippur war of 1973 in its ferocity and element of surprise.

In terms of its economic and geopolitical impact, the conflict looks unlikely to have the same devastating impact on global output and inflation as the war of 50 years ago.

Microsoft has been hit with a £23.5billion bill by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the latest twist in one of the biggest-ever corporate tax rows.

It centres on how Microsoft allocated profits across countries between 2004 and 2013.

London-listed stocks are treading water in early trading as gains in energy shares on higher crude prices offset worries about the US interest rate path, while Ashmore’s shares aredown after a drop in assets under management in the first quarter.

Shares of oil majors Shell and BP are up 1 and 1.4 per cent respectively, tracking crude prices higher.

Precious metal miners have added 1 per cent, while industrial metal miners also advance 0.7 per cent as gold and copper prices edge higher.

Fund manager Ashmore has slipped 1.9 per cent as assets under management declined in the September-quarter amid subdued market conditions due to weaker China economic data and high interest rates.

St James’s Place has dropped 9.8 per centto the bottom of the FTSE on a report stating the UK wealth manager was pushed by regulators to overhaul its fees.

You might not have heard of Eager Drinks, but you’ll almost certainly have tried it.

The juice company has been a staple of pubs, bars and venues across the UK for 15 years and its drinks are used in Young’s pubs, Alchemist bars and across the Stonegate chain, which owns Slug and Lettuce.

Alex Haffner, competition partner at UK law firm Fladgate:

‘Today’s decision was widely expected and brings an effective end to what has been a tumultuous process for all concerned.

‘In many ways, the end result is no different to other transactions which have raised significant competition concerns amongst competition regulators with the parties agreeing concessions to mitigate those concerns in an effective and clean cut manner.

‘But, what is different here is the circuitous route taken to get to that end point and the fact that Microsoft and Activision had to go to the brink of court proceedings before an accommodation was found.

‘The question that is left hanging therefore is whether this case shows a merger oversight system in the UK that is too dogmatic in dealing with what is a forward looking competitive assessment (especially in the case of ‘Big Tech’), or one which can be sufficiently flexible when required, provided always that consumer protection is to the fore.

‘Ultimately, the proof is in the pudding here and it will be particularly interesting to see where the wind blows next, particularly in the context of the next set of merger cases on the CMA’s cab rank, including that concerning Adobe and Figma.’

Jes Staley deserves to be punished for misleading the Barclays board and the City enforcer the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

As well as being hit with a £1.8m fine and banned from taking a senior role in financial services, he is forfeiting £17.8m in deferred pay on hold at the bank.

Britain’s competition regulator has finally cleared Microsoft’s $69billion acquisition of ‘Call of Duty’ maker Activision Blizzard after the restructured deal substantially addressed its earlier concerns.

Activision had in August agreed to sell its streaming rights to Ubisoft Entertainment, and Microsoft last month offered remedies to ensure the terms of the sale were enforceable by the regulator, soothing some residual concerns.

‘The new deal will stop Microsoft from locking up competition in cloud gaming as this market takes off, preserving competitive prices and services for UK cloud gaming customers,’ the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority said.