News round up: Just Eat, Barclays, AstraZeneca, Bank of England, High Street, New employees and Britain’s growth rate.

Just Eat plc (LON:JE) announced this morning that takeaway orders leapt 51 per cent in the first quarter, ahead of expectations, boosted by more people using its new iPads app and wet weather in the UK and northern Europe. The news saw shares gain over four per cent at the open.

The newly-listed firm, which joined the high growth segment of the London Stock Exchange’s main market last month, has now been admitted to its premium listing. – City A.M.

Barclays

Barclays will put its businesses in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal up for sale when it unveils its strategy review on May 8th. They will be put into a large “non-core” unit along with under-performing investment banking activities.

The businesses are not in trouble but profit is too low. The strategy update will follow a trading statement on May 6th that is expected to reveal that fixed-income and currency revenues in investment banking fell 30% in the first quarter. – The Sunday Times

AstraZeneca

The heads of the two pharmaceuticals giants at the heart of a takeover row could be summoned to give evidence before MPs. The shadow business secretary, Chuka Umunna, wrote yesterday to the science and technology select committee urging it to invite the chief executives of Pfizer and AstraZeneca to appear before them. – The Times

Bank of England

The Bank of England looks set to leave interest rates on hold again this week, but a hike before the General Election is seen as increasingly likely. Governor Mark Carney last week said he is still ‘comfortable’ with rates at a record low of 0.5% – setting the scene for another ‘no change’ decision when the monetary policy committee votes on Thursday.

But with the economy growing at its fastest pace for nearly seven years, and unemployment down from 7.9% to 6.9% in the past 12 months, pressure is mounting on the Bank to act. – The Daily Mail

High Street

According to figures from accountants BDO same-store sales on the High Street grew 2.7% in April compared with the same time last year. It said consumers, buoyed by supermarket discounts on everyday items such as milk and lower petrol prices, used the extra cash in their pockets to take a trip to the high street and splash out on “non-essentials”.

It said fashion sales at retailers including Next led the way, up 2.1% as warmer weather prompted shoppers to snap up summer clothes. – The Daily Express

New employees

According to the latest ICAEW/Grant Thornton UK Business Confidence Monitor small and medium sized businesses in the private sector will be looking for 450,000 new employees before the middle of 2015 as confidence in their future prospects surges to record levels.

The report, covering the first quarter of the year, found that firms throughout the country felt more bullish about the economy than ever before with the property and construction sector leading the way. – The Daily Express

Britain’s growth rate

Britain’s rapid growth rate will become “ingrained” and more balanced, the European Commission (EC) said on Monday, as two separate reports suggested the strong rate of expansion was likely to continue. The EC now expects the UK economy to grow by 2.7% in 2014, compared with a forecast of 2.5% three months ago.

It also upgraded its forecast for 2015 growth to 2.5%, from a previous estimate of 2.4%. “Growth is expected to become firmly established… and its composition is expected to broaden,” the EC said in its spring forecast on Monday. – The Daily Telegraph