Royal Bank of Scotland made a fresh fintech investment today with the acquisition of a 25 per cent stake in Loot.

The state-backed institution has invested a further £2 million in the start-up, which has developed an app to help young people and students manage their finances, following an initial £3m investment in July.

The deal comes after Royal, which made the investment through its digital-only bank Bo, acquired FreeAgent, the Edinburgh-based accountancy software provider, for £53 million last year. That deal was the first takeover completed by the bank since before its bailout during the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009.

Budget airline Norwegian today posted slower than expected growth in December, and pointed the finger at Rolls-Royce for a financial hit in the second half of 2018.

The carrier, which is the subject of intense takeover speculation, expanded capacity by 34 per cent last month. But the number of kilometres travelled by paying passengers rose just 24%, below forecasts.

Norwegian chief executive Bjorn Kjos said: “Continued tough competition, high oil prices and operational challenges in 2018 combined with the issues with Rolls-Royce engines, which have particularly affected our long-haul operations, have had an impact on our financial results in the latter half of 2018.

“We have launched a series of cost-reduction measures to boost our financials in 2019 which will have an immediate and continued positive influence throughout the year.”

The airline's load factor, a key metric of how many seats are sold per flight, fell from 84.6% in December 2017 to 78.6%.

Aldi has today been toasting the rewards of bumper Christmas sales, heaping pressure on their big name rivals at the start of a busy week of festive trading updates.

The German discounter, which continues to win market share from the big four grocers,  said it had its best ever Christmas trading period, reporting sales of nearly £1 billion for the month of December. It highlighted strong demand for its premium ranges and the benefits of consumers switching from other grocers.

The update from Aldi comes at the start of a busy week for the sector, with Marks & Spencer, Morrisons and Tesco all due to report on festive trading in the coming days.

In oil and gas, Bowleven has cheered investors by announcing a special dividend worth £50 million, or 15p per share. The company said move, which sent shares surging by nearly 20 per cent in morning trading, follows a success of two-well drilling campaign off Cameroon in October.