Holiday giant Tui has reported a 46 per cent drop in underlying earnings after taking a hit from the grounding of Boeing's 737 Max 8 aeroplane.

The group saw underlying earnings slump to €100.9 million (£93.6 million) in its third quarter after booking costs of €144 million (£134 million ) from the 737 Max woes, while trading is also being hampered by Brexit uncertainty.

Tui now expects costs for the aircraft issue of around €300 million (£278 million) for the full year.

It comes after after Boeing grounded the plane in the wake of the Ethiopian Airlines crash in March which killed 157 people, months after the same model was involved in the Lion Air crash in Indonesia which killed 189.

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Tui said trading continued to be impacted by Brexit uncertainty and a "knock-on impact" from last summer's heatwave as holidaymakers leave it later to book their trips.

It said: "We saw delayed customer bookings driven by the summer 2018 heatwave, the continued Brexit uncertainty and considerable aviation overcapacity to Spanish destinations continued in the third quarter."

Bookings for the summer are down 1% year-on-year, although it said this marked an improvement since the first half, when they fell 3%.

Its markets and airlines business took the brunt of the 737 planes impact, as well as the tougher trading conditions, slumping to an underlying loss of €103.9 million (£96.4 million), against earnings of €37.2 million (£34.5 million) a year ago.

Passenger numbers in the division edged higher to 6.03 million from 6.02 million a year earlier.

Tui said it had secured replacement aircraft leases to the end of the summer 2019 programme to cope with the 737 plane issues.

Tui's fleet, which comprises around 150 aircraft, currently includes 15 grounded 737 Max 8 planes for the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden.

The group has warned on profits twice this year, blaming one on the UK market and another on the Boeing groundings.

There was no further expected profit pain in its latest report as it stuck to previous guidance for full-year underlying earnings to fall by up to 26% on last year's €1.77 billion (£1.09 billion).

Chief executive Fritz Joussen has been cutting costs and making efficiencies to help offset the 737 Max 8 problems and difficult trading.

He said: "Despite the challenging environment in 2019 to date, our underlying business remains robust, and we expect to deliver a solid performance in 2019, which, however, will not match the prior year's result, as expected due to the grounding of the 737 Max."

Retailer Card Factory has said half-year like-for-like sales lifted 1.5% despite a slowdown in its second quarter after a weaker Father's Day for the group as fewer customers hit the high street.

The group said sales in its stores, excluding online, rose 1.2%.

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But the half-year result marked a slowdown from the first quarter, when like-for-like sales rose 2.3%.

The chain said it remained "broadly" on track for the full year.

Karen Hubbard, chief executive of Card Factory, said: "Looking forward to the forthcoming key fourth-quarter trading period, which will have a significant impact on the outturn for the full year, we believe we have the right ranges and products to deliver a good performance? although, we are cognisant of the economic and political uncertainty and weaker consumer confidence."

Card Factory shares lifted 2% in early trading.

Card Factory also said it had taken extra costs for stockpiling ahead of the October 31 Brexit deadline as it puts in place contingency plans for a possible no-deal withdrawal.

More than 100,000 people are being asked for their views on housebuilder Persimmon as an independent review into the company enters its next stage.

Customers, employees, suppliers, trade bodies, local authorities and civil servants will all be contacted in a bid to gather information about customer care and the quality of the group's work.

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The process, which was launched in April, is set to rigorously assess every aspect of the firm's construction and inspection regime as it sets out to rebuild its image in the wake of controversy over payouts to executives.

Stephanie Barwise QC, who is leading the review, told PA such an extensive review was rare in the private sector.

"I think it shows the genuine commitment that Persimmon has to resolving their customer services offering," she said.

She added that more companies could consider using independent reviews to assess their operations, but it would require a "sufficiently confident executive".

Clive Fenton, the former chief executive of fellow housebuilder McCarthy and Stone, is providing assistance to the review as an industry expert.

The consultation period closes on September 16, with findings of the review due by the end of the year.

Roger Devlin, chairman of Persimmon, said: "It is important that we listen in order to improve and this consultation process is a vital step in hearing from our customers, employees, and many other people important to our business.

"We hope that as many of our stakeholders as possible will take the time to contribute to this important process and I am very grateful to them for participating."

Persimmon faced criticism last year as it handed out hefty bonuses to executives, despite scoring relatively low for customer satisfaction in the industry.