Marks & Spencer has appointed former Tesco executive David Surdeau as its interim finance chief while it looks for a permanent replacement for Humphrey Singer.

Mr Singer stepped down as the firm's chief financial officer at the end of December following more than a year in the role.

The retailer said Mr Surdeau - who was most recently group planning, treasury and tax director at Tesco - would start his new role on January 7.

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M&S has undergone a recent boardroom shake-up which saw it poach Tesco's F&F clothing executive Richard Price to head its embattled clothing and home division.

M&S, which will report on its Christmas trading next week, was demoted from the FTSE 100 last year following a testing period for the retail sector. Shares in the company were down 1.3% to 213p.

Ryanair reported a 9% jump in traffic last month, as the company continues to wait for its Boeing 737 Max airliners to return to the skies.

Shares in the company slipped as it posted the increase in group traffic to 11.2 million customers during December.

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It said the number of holidaymakers travelling on Ryanair flights increased 7% to 10.7 million, while it saw a 67% increase in traveller numbers to 500,000 at its Austrian-based subsidiary Lauda.

However, traders were cautious on the back of comments by chief executive Michael O'Leary to German magazine Wirtschaftswoche suggesting the company is prepared for further delays in the delivery of the grounded Boeing planes.

Shares were down 2.1%.

Shares in British American Tobacco (BAT) have risen after the tobacco giant welcomed the US health regulator's move to ban popular e-cigarette flavours.

The FTSE 100 firm said it would comply with the new guidelines unveiled by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a bid to curb teenage vaping.

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Under a new policy that will launch next month, e-cigarette makers will be banned from selling fruit and mint flavoured pod-based e-cigarette flavours in the US.

BAT, which produces the Vype and Vuse vaping brands, said it believes "appropriate enforcement will ensure the sustainability of adult consumer choice across all product categories".

Shares in the business increased 1.9% to 3,328p in early morning trading.