Blustery weather across the UK in the last three months has put the wind in the sails of SSE's chief Alistair Phillips-Davies, whose company generated more electricity than expected from its wind turbines.

Adjusted operating profit rose 14% to £492 million in the first six months of the financial year due to "generally wet and windy weather".

SSE swung from a £285 million pre-tax loss in the first six months of 2018 to a £129 million profit this year, and invested £446 million in its regulated electricity networks and renewable energy.

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It is a good set of results for chief executive Mr Phillips-Davies, his first since the company decided to sell its power supply arm to challenger brand Ovo.

It leaves SSE primarily as a generator and transmitter of power.

Although the deal is not set to complete until early next year, pending approval from the Competition and Markets Authority, the figures from the retail division have been stripped from this set of results.

Earlier this year, SSE won a contract to supply record-cheap offshore wind power, as it said its turbines could push out electricity at £39.65 per megawatt hour (MWh).

At that level the generation will not need any subsidy from the government.

Mr Phillips-Davies said the next government must end a de facto ban on building new onshore wind farms in England, a form of power that is cheaper than offshore.

"The climate emergency needs action now and offshore wind has proven itself to be one of the most cost-effective ways this country can decarbonise and get on the road to net zero.

"Coupled with lifting the moratorium on onshore, the next government could deliver at least another 10GW of clean, green energy before the end of its term - enough to power over seven million homes."

The chairman of Unilever, Marijn Dekkers, has said he will step down from the position immediately after three years in charge in order to focus on his other roles.

Mr Dekkers, 62, will hand over the reins of the consumer goods company's board to Nils Andersen, who has been a director at the firm since 2015.

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Mr Dekkers, who will continue as a board member, said it was a "huge honour" to have been chairman of Unilever.

"I am very proud of the work we continue to do as a truly purpose-driven company. My decision to step down has been a difficult one to make but I look forward to seeing Unilever go from strength to strength under Nils as chairman," he said.

Mr Andersen is a veteran of Danish industry, having served as chief executive of both shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk, and brewer Carlsberg. He will step down as a board member at BP and Salling Group, a private company, in March next year, ahead of Unilever's annual general meeting.

However, Mr Andersen revealed no intention of giving up the chairmanship of Dutch paints and chemicals giants AkzoNobel, which he also holds.

Orders and deliveries of new Boeing planes remain depressed eight months into the grounding of the company's 737 Max.

Boeing said on Tuesday that an aircraft-leasing company replaced an order for 15 Max jets with an order of five 787s, a larger plane used mostly on international routes.

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Another customer dropped an order for three Max planes after ordering a larger Boeing 777 earlier this year.

Chicago-based Boeing said it took 10 new orders in October, down from 24 in the same month last year, which included 14 Max jets.

The company delivered 20 commercial planes last month, including 12 for the 787, which Boeing calls the Dreamliner.

That is down from 57 a year earlier, a decline that hurts Boeing's cash flow because customers pay much of the purchase price on delivery.

Boeing burned through $2.9 billion (£2.26bn) in cash in the third quarter, compared with generating $4.1 billion (£3.19bn) in free cash flow a year earlier, and it took on $5.5 billion (£4.28bn) in new debt.