Market volatility a key driver of business for spread-betting giant IG Group

Shares in Hargreaves Services, the coal haulage company, slide as it admits it is in merger talks with UK Coal

Fund manager F&C Asset Management had its first net inflow of funds for more than two years during January, almost three years after it was put up for sale by Friends Provident

Chime Communications, the firm behind the CompareTheMarket meerkat advertising campaign, announces a 14% jump in pre-tax profits to £18.8 million

Countrywide, Britain’s largest estate agent, has linked up with auction house Sotheby’s to sell multi-million pound homes in London and beyond

Terry Smith’s interdealer broking firm Tullett Prebon is forced to admit it has received a takeover approach

EMI is plunged into more turmoil as its private equity owner Terra Firma parts ways with Elio Leoni-Sceti as chief executive

The boss of construction giant Costain says work on the start of the Crossrail tunnel at Paddington is going to plan

Banks may have to disclose the number of employees who earn more than £500,000 under draft government plans

Fears of a double-dip recession resurface after factory output unexpectedly fell early this year, hitting the pound again

Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar triumph with The Hurt Locker has had an instant effect, with DVD rentals of the movie more than doubling

Heathrow-owner BAA reports its first rise in domestic passengers in two years, as Britons return to pre-recession routines

Melrose, the manufacturing investor, beats profit forecasts and said it would focus on acquisitions rather than disposals this year

Standard Life ups the pressure on rival Prudential, insisting there are huge opportunities in the UK

Tullow Oil net profit crashes by 92% to £19 million, with the firm blaming lower oil and gas prices and output

Bookmakers stop taking bets on a 6 May general election after Gordon Brown makes the date a near-certainty with Budget announcement

Alistair Darling is to announce the date of the Budget amid intense speculation that it will be held on 24 March

Barclays is shopping around for a large US retail bank as it looks to boost its presence on the high street, it is reported

Sainsbury's is to open the country's first bakery college for a supermarket

Privately-owned commodity trader Glencore International posts a 43% fall in 2009 net profit after prices were hit by the downturn