Google makes new promises on customer tracking

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The UK competition regulator said it has secured better customer tracking engagements from Google’s parent company Alphabet.

In June, the Competition and Market Authority launched an investigation to determine whether Google’s plan to phase out third-party cookies from the Chrome browser could harm competition in digital advertising. The search engine owner has now pledged greater transparency and engagement with the CMA, offering pledges to reduce access to data.

Andrea Coscelli, CEO of CMA, said: “We have always been clear that Google’s efforts to protect user privacy cannot come at the expense of reduced competition. If accepted, the commitments we have obtained from Google become legally binding, fostering competition in digital markets, helping to protect the ability of online publishers to raise funds through advertising and safeguarding user privacy ”.

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Briefly

Filter maker Essentra has begun a strategic overhaul of its packaging division, in an expansion of a plan first outlined in October to become a pure play components business. The company also revealed that Lily Liu, chief financial officer, will switch to polymer specialist Synthomer next year to fill the same role.

Sofa retailer ScS warned it has seen a reduction in traffic and store conversion in recent weeks, with consumers spending less on discretionary purchases of large tickets. “This appears to be driven by a change in the behavior of consumers who shop earlier for Christmas than in previous years,” the company said. “The extended product lead times currently underway in the furniture and retail sector in general are also having an impact on current purchasing trends.” For the 16 weeks ending November 20, ScS reported similar orders down 10.6% but up 0.9% over the 2019 period.

Diageo plans to repurchase shares up to a value of £ 550 million as part of its previously announced commitment to return up to £ 4.5 billion to shareholders by June 2024. The Guinness and Smirnoff producer said it has hired Goldman Sachs to purchase the shares starting today and ending no later than March 4, 2022.

Velocys, the Oxford-based aviation fuel developer, raised £ 25 million with an overnight quotation to finance investments in reference projects and production. Listed company Aim placed its shares at 8p, an 8.6% discount on Thursday’s closing price.

Over the square mile

Stuttgart prosecutors are evaluating the fraud allegations raised by two Deutsche Bahn informants. The FT reported Thursday that the German state-owned railway operator had received repeated warnings that the inflation of costs for the construction of the new Stuttgart train station was caused by blatant mismanagement and suspected corruption. Prosecutors told the Financial Times they were unaware of the allegations and are now investigating them.

Stocks and oil prices fell overnight as global investor concern grew over a new variant of Covid-19. The strong sell-off in the shares was led by Hong Kong, where two cases of the variant were confirmed late Thursday evening. The city’s benchmark Hang Seng index lost up to 2.5% on concerns that the new strain could slow the global economic recovery and further isolate the Asian financial center, which has one of the most stringent quarantine systems in the world. .

French fishermen will block three French ports and prevent freight trucks from crossing the Channel Tunnel on Friday to protest the UK’s inability to license some of their vessels after Brexit. Gérard Romiti, president of the French fisheries committee, described the action as a “warning shot”.

The actual nationalization of the Bulb energy supplier shows a “large-scale political failure,” writes Helen Thomas. “The mistake was to limit retail prices by allowing companies that chase growth at any cost to take huge amounts of risk on commodity prices that were actually backed by the state.”

A search recall at the Finnish Nordea bank, curious happenings at the ADVFN data store cited by Aim, and the spotting of stars at Goldman Sachs are all featured in City Insider.

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