Thames Water parent ‘owes two Chinese state-owned banks’ as debt downgraded – as it happened

Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as Fitch downgrades debt of parent of water company, saying default is likely

Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, which compiles the PMI survey, said:

The recovery in service sector output lost a little bit of momentum during March, and more so than suggested by the flash PMI results, but the overall picture remains reasonably positive.

Business activity has now expanded for five consecutive months, supported by sustained improvements in new order intakes. The solid growth rate achieved in March reinforces the view that a rebound in service sector performance is helping the UK economy to pull out of last year's shallow recession.