Tesco

Shoppers will have spent £951,000 per minute on Christmas Eve on last-minute shopping, research suggests.
Sainsbury's Credit Cards say 19% of the nation's adults intended to do some of their seasonal shopping on Thursday, spending about £1.37bn.
More than 13m people were expected to do Christmas Eve shopping, spending the equivalent of £57m an hour.
Financial data firm Experian said consumers were making the most of this year's final few shopping days.

Tesco PLC's expansion into the U.S. and Asia markets as well as its nascent banking services helped boost the U.K.-based supermarket giant's third-quarter sales amid lingering recessionary conditions in some of its markets.

As Observer newspaper reports, Virgin Money is planning to launch a UK Internet bank in a bid to take advantage of public anger at traditional high street outfits. Richard Branson's empire is going to apply to the Financial Services Authority for a banking licence owing to which taking deposits and offer mortgages will be allowed.