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Mobile gaming: missing the jackpot: Advertisers know that – eMarketer expects ad spending on mobiles to grow 92% this year. But the mobile gaming world is struggling to win its fair share of those ad dollars. But the growth in mobile ad spending is a lost opportunity for the gaming industry. One reason is that no one has quite figured out how to do mobile game ads well. Banner ads are tacky. And ads that are successful demand a lot of development work – such as the virtual Lexus in Real Racing 3 (by Electronic Arts). Some companies, such as Tencent, eschew ads altogether. But as it is, mobile games are less lucrative than their console counterparts. Average revenue per user in mobile games is only one-tenth of the Arpu for console games, according to Interpret. True, some gaming groups do mobile better than others. At Electronic Arts, mobile accounts for a fifth of revenues after 30% growth last year. At Activision Blizzard, by contrast, mobile provides just 6% of sales (excluding distribution), and mobile revenues have fallen by half from the same period last year. But there is a long way to go for the industry as a whole. The prize will be valuable for whoever cracks the code first: Android users spend 37 minutes a day playing mobile games on average, says Flurry. That figure rises to more than 45 minutes daily in the U.S. and Germany. There’s more money here than in just buying extra lives.

Arm launches latest chip to power the internet of things: Arm Holdings is making its biggest push yet into the so-called “internet of things”, releasing a chip designed for connected home appliances and wearable products, as the U.K. technology company attempts to open up new avenues for future growth.

Old Mutual eyes $2 billion listing for U.S. unit: Old Mutual has put a price tag of as much as $2 billion on its U.S. asset management arm as the FTSE 100 financial services company pressed the button on a New York listing of the subsidiary.

Close Brothers profits rise as business loan demand grows: U.K. merchant bank Close Brothers reported on Tuesday that its full year net profit climbed by almost a quarter to £149.8 million as the U.K. merchant bank’s lending arm continued to grow, amid flowering demand for credit from smaller businesses.

Tesco’s retail rivals warned over risks in accounts: Auditors have warned leading retailers including J Sainsbury, Wm Morrison and Travis Perkins that they could be at risk of a Tesco-style accounting fiasco.

Spirit Pub Company a target after Greene King’s bid failure: Greene King was considering making a fresh offer for the Spirit Pub Company after having an all-paper bid worth £660 million rejected by its rival.

Panmure shows signs of profit turnround Stockbroker says it is beginning to recover from the ‘disastrous’ purchase of ThinkEquity, made in 2007 to break into the US market

WPP, the world’s largest advertising group, is investing in an ecommerce service company, Polestar, in China as many of its global clients migrate to the country’s fast-growing online retail sector. Most ecommerce vendors in China lose money, but providing services to them is a flourishing business. (Financial Times)

Property group British Land has confirmed that it has fully let its recently completed development at 39 Victoria Street in London. The letting of the nine-storey building follows a number of others for the company and means its West End office portfolio now has a 96% occupancy rate, up from 88% at 31 March. Tim Roberts, the company's head of offices and residential, said: "We have continued to see good letting momentum across our London office portfolio which reflects the high quality spaces and environments we have created along with improving occupational demand. "With little new product coming to market over the coming years, we are pushing forward with our near-term pipeline."

* Standard Chartered is in advanced talks to sell its Hong Kong consumer finance business to finance firm Pepper Australia Ltd in a deal that could fetch between $500m and $700m.

Latin American states to be hit most by oil fall: Latin American petro-states face being hardest hit by the recent 15% drop in price of oil to below $100 (£61) per barrel (pb), according to a new report released.

Bookmakers still off the pace: The last time Questor looked at the bookmakers was in the aftermath of the Budget on March 19, when George Osborne lobbed the sector not one, but three hand grenades in the form of a new higher tax rate for controversial fixed-odds gaming machines; plans to extend the horserace betting levy to capture wagers taken through firms’ offshore digital businesses; plus a sharp reminder that a 15pc online gaming tax will come into effect in December. Shares in William Hill, Britain’s biggest bookmaker, have regained some ground since the Chancellor delivered his triple tax whammy, but 2014 has not been an enjoyable year for most of the betting companies, with the marked exception of Betfair, which doesn’t own any high street shops and operates a different model from the rest of the sector. William Hill, Ladbrokes and the private company Gala Coral – which analysts expect to float once it has sold off its bingo halls and the effects of the PoCT are fully understood – have all announced shop closures this year as a result of the increased burden on the sector. In the first half of the year, the bookies were also hit hard by a poor run of sporting results, which went the way of the punter. Paddy Power, the colourful Irish bookie, joked last month that it had been hit harder in the pocket than John Cleese’s costly divorce from his third wife, Alyce Faye Eichelberger, as punters had a “field day” in the first six months, particularly in football. Last week the four biggest bookies operating in Britain sought to get on the front foot by proposing a raft of changes to ease concerns over FoBTs and advertising. William Hill, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and Gala Coral said they would fund an independent watchdog to police the sector and promised to scrap “sign up” advertising, offering free bets, before the 9pm watershed. All advertising for FoBTs will be removed from betting shop windows, while the four companies also announced a major responsible-gambling advertising campaign for next year. Ladbrokes, which trades on a forward multiple of just over 11 times, has its own internal issues which further complicate matters and its Chief Executive, Richard Glynn, has to prove that a significant overhaul of its online division is starting to pay off financially. The signs were looking more positive at the half year stage and Questor again recommends a hold. The more interesting prospect perhaps is Betfair. The online bookmaker, whose main product, the Betfair Exchange, pits punters against one another, was sitting on a cash pile of £209.8 million at the end of April, which could be used for acquisitions or returned to shareholders. While Betfair doesn’t pay machine games duty, analysts at Morgan Stanley believe it could face a £22 million tax headwind in the second half of its financial year after PoCT comes into force. Gambling sector. Questor Says &#

Category error: There is no shortage of buyers. But superlatives are running low. British Land has just sold 18 Mayfair flats at a record average price of £4,750 per square foot. The term “super prime” for properties costing over £10 million demeans these splendid dwellings. Time for a new elite category of “Ifyoo” properties. If you have to ask the price, you can’t afford one, in other words. Eligible buyers seem to be going through something of a rotation. Russians and Chinese no longer appear in such numbers. Instead, Indians featured prominently among buyers at the Clarges Mayfair development. It would be nice if they were coming to London to escape summer heat like Raj-era Brits vacationing in elevated Simla or Ooty

WPP takes 15% stake in AppNexus Deal with Google rival underlines desire of Martin Sorrell’s advertising group to own technology as well as provide services

Apple sells record 10m iPhone 6 models Pre-orders in first 24 hours for the new phones also set fresh highs, with analysts saying that the numbers should be well received by investors

Rockefellers join anti-fossil fuel drive: The Rockefeller Brothers Fund joins some 800 institutions and individuals, responsible for $50bn of investment, that have pledged to sell some or all of their fossil fuel holdings. The Rockefeller fund said it would sell its investments in the coal and Canadian oil sands industries and review its remaining fossil fuel holdings for possible sale in one or two years (Financial Times)

Global ad spend set to reach over $520 billion this year: Digital advertising will help grow the global advertising market by 5.3% this year, higher than the 3.9% growth seen in 2013, according to research released by ZenithOptimedia.

Former Premier League striker builds case for U.S. property: Footballer turned real-estate tycoon Robbie Fowler is urging British investors to consider investing in U.S. property.

Shell overhauls security procedures in Nigeria to prevent oil theft that is costing it hundreds of millions of pounds: Shell has overhauled its security procedures in Nigeria to prevent oil theft that is costing it hundreds of millions of pounds.

Sell Merlin before private equity do: Merlin Entertainments, the Owner of Alton Towers and Madame Tussauds, said that it had enjoyed like-for-like revenue growth of 6.7% during the third quarter. Merlin Entertainments increased group like-for-like revenue by 6.7% during the third quarter, a slowdown from 8.1% like-for-like revenue growth during the first half. Market consensus is for full year, pretax profits of £233 million, on revenue of £1.24 billion, giving 16.7p in earnings per share. Questor thinks that Merlin shares at 350p are far too expensive – trading on 21 times forecast earnings, falling to 19 times next year – for a company where revenue growth is slowing. Questor believes there is another problem hanging over the shares. The sale looks like a classic private equity exit. Private equity firms run funds that typically have a 10-year life span: they invest in assets such as Merlin for five years then sell during a five-year period. Blackstone invested in 2005 and CVC invested in 2010. Since 2010, Blackstone has already reduced its Ownership from 52%, and Questor thinks both private equity Owners are not in for the long haul. The other thing that concerns Questor is that, in addition to slowing revenue growth, cash generation is falling. Cash generated from operations was down £7 million to £140 million during the first half ended June 28. Once spending on the parks of £104 million and interest payment of £32 million are subtracted, the company only generated £4 million in free cash. There is also a rather large pile of debt. Net debt was £977 million on June 28, and putting that in perspective it is more than shareholders’ funds of £960 million. Questor believes this is an overvalued, low growth, private equity exit that investors should sell. Merlin Entertainments at 350.6p+10.1p Questor Says “Sell”.