SSE cuts energy prices 1% from May

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Energy supplier SSE announced a 4.1% cut to its energy prices but not until the end of April. "The challenging business environment we identified at the start of this financial year is likely to continue into the new financial year," said chief executive Alistair Phillips-Davies, "and we believe that addressing the resulting issues directly is the right thing to do for customers and the best way of safeguarding the interests of investors."

Rolls-Royce has been awarded a €100m contract to supply engines for major Chinese locomotive manufacturer CNR Dalian, marking its entry into that country's market for freight locomotives for export. The British engineer is to deliver 232 of its MTU Series 400 engines to CNR, the most powerful ones in that model series, to be used in the new locomotives for use by South African operator Transne Freight Rail.

Production decreased 2% in the first six months of the year for Petra Diamonds and while the company increased its full-year production guidance it warned certain adjustments may lead to full-year results being below current market consensus. The miner saw sales jump by 16% in the period to reach $214.8m, thanks in part to the sale of two exceptional diamonds for combined revenue of $38.7m.

In the press

Greece sent shockwaves across Europe last night as anti-austerity party that has promised to end austerity and refuse to take orders from Berlin and Brussels triumphed in the country’s election, wrote The Times. Syriza, founded by ex-communists and led by the firebrand Alexis Tsipras, is the first of a new wave of anti-cutback parties on the Continent to take power since the financial crisis, the paper said.

George Osborne has requested that ministers make dozens of interventions to fast-track fracking projects for oil in the UK as a “personal priority”, including the delivery of numerous “asks” from shale gas company Cuadrilla, according to The Guardian. The list of requests are laid out in a leaked letter to the chancellor’s cabinet colleagues. The Guardian said they include interventions in local planning, and offering public land for potential future drilling. Anti-fracking campaigners claim the letter reveals collusion with the industry, while Labour said it showed the government was an “unabashed cheerleader for fracking”.

Hackers claiming to be supporters of the Islamic State have hijacked the Malaysia Airlines website this morning, printed The Times. People trying to log on to the site are being greeted by the image of a tuxedo-wearing lizard, and read “Hacked by Lizard Squad -- Official Cyber Caliphate”, the paper said. It also carried the headline “404 - Plane Not Found”, a reference to the loss of MH370 last year with 239 people aboard.