Worries the US was closer to bringing its economic stimulus measures to an end and concern over the state of the Chinese economy triggered a huge global sell-off today, with the FTSE 100 falling from its highest level in thirteen years.

Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, tackled the political debate surrounding Britain's EU membership on Thursday night, telling a City of London audience that Europe needed �a more European UK�.

Mothercare is crawling towards a recovery as chief executive Simon Calver insisted the UK company was on target to break even within two years.

A day after the International Monetary Fund urged the government to do more to spur growth, Britain's official statisticians have reminded economists of just how far the UK economy remains from full health.

Business leaders and politicians have raised concerns over the future of Inverness's links with London Gatwick. A three-times-a-day service operated by Flybe is in doubt following the airline's decision to sell all of its take-off and landing slots at Gatwick.

The annual report from Britain's biggest retailer revealed that Richard Brasher, the former head of Tesco in the UK, was paid �1.3m to leave and Tim Mason, who led the company's US arm Fresh & Easy, collected �1.7m in �liquidated damages�.

Revenues at United Utilities in the year to March 31 advanced from �1.56bn to �1.64bn, partly thanks to an inflation-beating 5.8 per cent increase in prices agreed with the regulator Ofwat, but offset by reduced volumes and more uptake of metered supplies.

Manchester United say they have refinanced more than �192m of high-interest debt, cutting the club's interest costs by around �10m a year.

Cash and carry group Booker has benefited from the horsemeat scandal as more caterers have turned away from processed meats and started making meals from scratch, according to the company.

There was no relief for ARM Holdings today after analysts at Exane BNP provided sceptics with plenty of ammunition for their bear case against the microchip designer.