Good morning and welcome to the BusinessLive Breakfast blog on Thursday, 15 August.
I'm Jonathon Manning and I'll be here with you every morning to give you a round-up of the most important events taking place in the commercial world.
Ladbrokes' owner GVC has seen its profits grow despite new laws surrounding Fixed Odds Betting Terminals hitting the industry.
GVC saw it pre-tax profits rise by 30% to £212.1m during the first half of 2019, higher than previously forecast.
The company had been concerned that rules limiting betting on terminals in high street bookmakers to £2 per go would seriously dent the firm's results.
And in other news transport giant FirstGroup has appointed former Arriva boss David Martin as its chairman.
He starts with immediate effect and replaces Wolfhart Hauser.
If you'd like to contribute to the blog, you can contact Jonathon Manning via Twitter at @JonnyAManning or drop me a line at jonathon.manning@reachplc.com. You can also keep in touch with the BusinessLive team on Twitter at @businesslive .
