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Everything you need to know...

That’s all from me this morning on the Business Breakfast Blog.

I’ll be back tomorrow morning with another news roundup but until my return you should check out some of the top stories from the rest of the site.

Here are some of them:

Nissan’s CEO resigns as report reveals full extent of firm’s financial scandal

Manchester tech sector: 164,000 job openings and $528m investment since start of 2019

Iceland: The frozen food retailer is going green and picking up new customers on the way

Developers unveil plans to transform Gateshead’s Brett Oils site with plush apartment scheme

A tale of two high streets: How a South Wales town’s two shopping streets show the key to survival

Alibaba founder Jack Ma steps down as chairman

Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma, who helped launch China’s online retailing boom, has stepped down as chairman of the world’s biggest e-commerce company.

The move comes at a time when its fast-changing industry faces uncertainty amid a US-Chinese tariff war.

Mr Ma, one of China’s wealthiest and best-known entrepreneurs, gave up his post on his 55th birthday as part of a succession announced a year ago.

He will stay on as a member of the Alibaba Partnership, a 36-member group with the right to nominate a majority of the company’s board of directors.

Mr Ma, a former English teacher, founded Alibaba in 1999 to connect Chinese exporters to American retailers.

The company has shifted focus to serving China’s growing consumer market and expanded into online banking, entertainment and cloud computing.

Domestic businesses accounted for 66% of its $16.7bn (£13.5bn) in revenue in the quarter ending in June.

Chinese retailing faces uncertainty amid a tariff war that has raised the cost of US imports.

Growth in online sales decelerated to 17.8% in the first half of 2019 amid slowing Chinese economic growth, down from 2018’s full-year rate of 23.9%.

Alibaba says its revenue rose 42% over a year earlier in the quarter ending in June to $16.7bn (£13.5bn) and profit rose 145% to $3.1bn (£2.5bn).

West Midlands: Metro Bank to open two more West Midlands branches in Solihull and Dudley

Challenger bank Metro is set to open two new branches in the West Midlands next week.

The company will launch its new sites at Mell Square in Solihull and the Merry Hill centre in Dudley on September 20.

These latest launches follow swiftly on from the opening a new branch in Birmingham city centre last month week and ahead of a fourth West Midlands venue in Wolverhampton later this year.

Solihull and Dudley represent Metro’s 69th and 70th bank openings and the latter is its fourth to have a drive-thru facility, with each branch creating around 25 new jobs.

Launch events will be held at the two sites with local dignitaries including Solihull MP Julian Knight, Small Business Commissioner Paul Uppal and Poundland founder Steve Smith.

Chief executive Craig Donaldson said:

We’re thrilled to be opening two more stores in the West Midlands and to become part of the local communities in both the Solihull and the Merry Hill area.

We look forward to serving even more of the region’s residents and local businesses by providing our unique banking experience.

JD Sports sees revenues soar by almost 50%

JD Sports has defied the high street gloom by boosting its revenues by nearly 50%.

The group, which includes its international business and a gym chain, saw turnover grow by 47% to £2.72bn.

Meanwhile, pre-tax profits hit £129.9m

The firm said like-for-like sales in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ and Ireland had grown by 10%.

JD Sports executive chairman Peter Cowgill said he was pleased with customer reaction to improvements to stores and online, to help underlying pre-tax profits, the company’s preferred measure, rising 37% to £235.2m for the six months to August 3.

He added:

Against a backdrop of widely-reported retail challenges in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ, it is extremely encouraging that JD has delivered like-for-like sales growth of more than 10% with an improved conversion reflecting consumers’ increasingly positive reaction to our elevated multi-channel proposition where a unique and constantly evolving sports and fashion premium brand offer is presented in a vibrant retail theatre with innovative digital technology.

SoftBank urges WeWork to shelve IPO, reports claim

WeWork’s biggest external shareholder, SoftBank, is urging the firm to put a stop to its plans to float on the stock market.

The Financial Times claims that SoftBank is urging WeWork to shelf its IPO plans after it received a weak response from investors.

WeWork’s parent company, the We Company, is aiming to raise between $3bn and $4bn through its IPO.

The office space company is lossmaking and has faced criticism over its governance, corporate structure and payments made to its co-founder Adam Neumann.

However, if the We Company was to end its flotation pland it would lose access to a $6bn loan from a group of banks. The group, including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs said it would only led the firm the cash if it raised $3bn.

Bovis Homes and Galliford Tru restart talks to merge housing arms

Builder Bovis Homes has rekindled talks over a merger with rival Galliford Try’s housing arm in a deal valuing the division at £1.08bn.

Bovis said the talks to combine Bovis Homes and Galliford’s Linden Homes and Partnerships & Regeneration unit are still at an early stage, and stressed there remains “significant work to be completed” before a deal can be agreed.

They stressed the deal was not a full merger of the two companies, with Galliford remaining a separately listed construction-focused firm.

It marks the second attempt of a deal between the pair this year after Galliford Try rejected a £950m approach in May, and comes two years after full merger talks between the two housebuilders collapsed.

Galliford attempted to acquire Bovis but talks broke down after the pair failed to agree on a valuation.
Bovis boss Greg Fitzgerald - a former chief executive of Galliford Try for nearly a decade - said he believed it was a “massive opportunity”.

He said:

While discussions are still at early stages, this potential combination represents an exciting and transformational opportunity to create a leading º£½ÇÊÓƵ housebuilder with enhanced scale.

He added:

Galliford Try’s Partnerships business is a fantastic brand, with a very strong position in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ.

Combining it with Bovis Homes’ newly launched Partnerships Housing Division would enable us to become the partner of choice for delivering more affordable homes at a time when these are needed the most.

The potential deal would see Bovis pay Galliford £300m in cash, award shares worth £675m to Galliford investors and take on £100m worth of debt.

Bovis would also take on Galliford’s pension schemes.

Following completion of the proposed deal, Galliford shareholders would own around 29.3% of the enlarged Bovis Homes group.

The deal would bring together two of the º£½ÇÊÓƵ’s top 10 housebuilders, although Bovis is by far the larger of the two.

Graham Prothero, chief executive of Galliford Try, said:

The transaction is an exciting opportunity to create two strategically focused businesses.

The significant cash element within the consideration provides a firm foundation for our newly reorganised Construction business to flourish as an independent company.

East Midlands: Brewing to restart at historic Nottinghamshire site which produced Mansfield bitter

Beer is set to be made again at an historic Nottinghamshire brewery 16 years after production was moved from the site.

New owners have come in at the former Mansfield Brewery building, which has a 150-year history of brewing, and it is hoped production will begin again within the next few weeks.

The site has been taken on by Phil Scotney and David Vann and they have invested £150,000 in the business, which will be renamed Prior’s Well.

The brewery was best known for its Mansfield bitter, the production of which was moved to Wolverhampton in the early 2000s.

Mr Scotney said:

I have lived here all my life so the area is very important to me. I went to school at King Edward’s Primary School just across the road so I know it well and any micro-brewery that could use this space would be happy.

Find out more here.

FTSE and pound update

The FTSE-100 index opened at 7235.81.

The pound at 8am was 1.2365 dollars compared to 1.2367 dollars at the previous close.

The euro at 8am was 0.8933 pounds compared to 0.8943 pounds at the previous close.

US launches massive antitrust investigation into Google

Google is facing a multistate investigation in its business as US authorities examine whether the tech giant has broken antitrust laws.

A total of 50 US states and territories have announced they will work together to investigate Google’s “overarching control of online advertising markets and search traffic”.

It is feared that Google’s dominance could have led to anticompetitive behaviour that harms consumers.

Legal experts from each state, and across political parties, will with with Federal authorities to assess competitive conditions for online services to make sure that US citizens have access to free digital markets.

The investigation is being led by Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, who said:

Now, more than ever, information is power, and the most important source of information in Americans’ day-to-day lives is the internet. When most Americans think of the internet, they no doubt think of Google.

There is nothing wrong with a business becoming the biggest game in town if it does so through free market competition, but we have seen evidence that Google’s business practices may have undermined consumer choice, stifled innovation, violated users’ privacy, and put Google in control of the flow and dissemination of online information. We intend to closely follow the facts we discover in this case and proceed as necessary.

Mr Paxton added that previous investigation into Google had uncovered violations ranging from advertising illegal drugs in the US as well as three antitrust actions brought about by the European Commission.

But he said that none of these investigations “fully address the source of Google’s sustained market power and the ability to engage in serial and repeated business practices with the intention to protect and maintain that power”.