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Cycling mad Britons help Halfords' hit the £1billion sales mark for the first time: Cycle and car parts seller Halfords has smashed through the £1billion sales barrier for the first time after its new bike ranges proved popular with customers.

More pain for Sainsbury’s as grocer is expected to report sixth consecutive quarter of falling sales: Sainsbury's is expected to report a sixth successive quarter of falling like-for-like sales when it delivers its latest trading statement on Wednesday.

Reubens check in: Two billionaire brothers have taken control of the Grosvenor House in London and two other luxury hotels in New York through an $850 million (£550 million) debt deal.

Chinese eye Balfour Beatty: A Chinese construction giant is exploring a £ 2 billion takeover approach for Balfour Beatty, the FTSE 250 company that helped to build the Channel tunnel

Optimistic Bellway rings in a good start to the year: One of Britain’s main housebuilders has sounded a bullish note on the property market after reporting a good start to the year and predicting that home sales will be up substantially on last year. Bellway recorded a 22 % rise in its forward order book to £1.27 billion for the three months to the end of May

Diageo in high spirits after 3G’s boys from Brazil eye takeover: Another British Heavyweight Company could be in the cross-hairs of foreign predators after reports in Brazil linked Jorge Paulo Lemann, the billionaire deal-maker that often works alongside Warren Buffett, with a potential offer for Diageo.

Oil prices ended lower last week. Markets were nervous about the OPEC meeting on Friday and oil prices traded lower ahead of the meeting. The OPEC, in its meeting, decided to hold production levels at the current level. Meanwhile, the API and EIA showed that US crude oil stockpiles for week ended 29 May rose by 1.8 million barrels and fell by 1.9 million barrels, respectively. Brent crude oil prices dropped 3.4% to $63.31/barrel.

The number of people working from home has risen by 13.7% in the last ten years, according to a study. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) found 800,000 more people work from home on a permanent basis when compared with a decade ago, which makes a total to 4.2m. However, the Work Wise UK campaign estimated there are at least 1.8m people who would like to work from home but cannot do so. The reasons for the preference are the expense, time and hassle of commuting to work everyday. "As economic growth returns, more employers should begin to think about the benefits of homeworking and other ways of working smarter," TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said. The Office of National Statistics found that managers and professionals are most likely to work from home, while there is less flexibility to those lower down the occupational hierarchy.

Bellway said in an interim management statement that a strong trading performance was expected to result in the full year operating margin increasing by around 300 bps to over 20%, up from 17.2% in 2014. Exceptional profit will total £6.9m thanks to the disposal of the company's entire portfolio of shared equity assets for £32.5m. Its forward sales position was "strong", it said, with growth of 22% in the value of the forward order book to £1,270m.

M&S Chief pockets £596k bonus after profits boost: Marks & Spencer Boss Marc Bolland has seen his total pay package jump by nearly a third after landing a £596,000 bonus for delivering the retailer’s first annual profits increase for four years.

Odey invites rivals to gatecrash Playtech’s takeover of Plus500: Plus500’s top shareholder Odey Asset Management rebuked a £460 million deal for the company from Teddy Sagi’s Playtech and said it would welcome offers from rival bidders.

Easy money to last until at least 2016 as growth prospects wane: Low interest rates look set to stay for the rest of the year, with the growth outlook for the U.K. worsening and a major international organisation urging the U.S. not to hike rates this year.

Cairn Energy cools on Ibiza as it focuses on Senegal: Cairn Energy has called time early on its controversial hunt for oil and gas off the Spanish resort island of Ibiza as the company focuses its resources on Senegal

Wincanton looks like a cheap option on U.K. recovery: Unlike the low-cost airliners, small-cap haulier Wincanton Wincanton will not benefit from falling fuel prices. The reason the company doesn’t benefit from cheaper fuel is because all its haulage contracts simply pass on movements in the price. Wincanton may have missed out on a windfall from the oil slump, but it is doing well from a strengthening U.K. recovery. There was some disappointment as losses at the Pullman vehicle repair and maintenance business put a brake on annual results. However, the company expects an improved performance and a return to profit soon. Wincanton was hit hard when the financial crisis hit in 2008, after expanding too quickly and becoming laden with debt. However, its turnaround is on track. John Lawson, an analyst at broker Investec, said: “Investors will focus on the falling average debt levels (even if the IAS19 pension deficit was up) and the solid underlying performance.” Wincanton’s shares are up 23% since we recommended buying them last year (Buy, 138.75p, July 19, 2014). Trading on nine times forecast earnings, they remain good value. Falling debt levels reduce risk for investors and also open the opportunity of a return to dividends in the year ahead. Wincanton at 171p-¾p. Questor Says “Buy”.

England to be 1 million homes short of housing its people by 2025: England is heading for a shortfall of 1 million homes over the next decade as the housing supply crisis intensifies, property experts have warned.

Shell CEO urges Britain to remain in European Union: Britain should stay in Europe, the head of the U.K.’s largest publicly listed company Royal Dutch Shell has said as a growing number of business leaders express concerns ahead of a referendum on the issue in 2017

Tunnelling on London’s £14.8 billion Crossrail project complete after three years: The £14.8 billion Crossrail project has reached a “major milestone” after engineers finally finished 26 miles of tunnelling beneath London following three years of work

India seeks oil discounts from Opec as it flexes import clout: India is asking Opec members for long-term oil price concessions, its petroleum Minister said on Thursday, as it tries to use its growing sway as one of the world’s largest crude importers to lock-in supplies.

Builders stockpile housing sites in green belt to keep prices high: Building companies are “hoarding” sites for 300,000 homes and delaying the completion of estates to keep prices high, a report by the Campaign to Protect Rural England suggests.

Oil dips as Opec cools on output cut: Oil prices were sent lower as it appeared likely that Opec would not bow to pressure from some of its members to cut production.