A series of buyout funds including US firms Advent and Blackstone are in talks with advertising group WPP to explore bids for a majority stake in its data analytics unit Kantar.

The FTSE 100 Index staged a mini-fightback today on the back of gains made by banking and mining stocks but it was still more than 100 points down on the week.

Finsbury Foods today grabbed a bigger slice of the diet cake market following the acquisition of Weight Watchers cake supplier Anthony Alan Foods.

Cake and bread maker Finsbury Foods today banked a sharp rise in profits after strong consumer demand for its premium range products.