Law and business: commercial news round-up 07.11.2014

In addition to legal knowledge, firms expect their lawyers to have commerciality and business nous – a failure to do so leaves clients unhappy and deals undone. Start working on your skills now, with this week’s collection of news stories that have lit up the business pages of the broadsheets:

• Ryanair’s fortunes are on the up, as the company reports higher than expected profits and an increase in passenger numbers. The secret to its success? Possibly a new policy that plans "not to unnecessarily piss people off".
• The Competition and Markets Authority is to launch an investigation into the behaviour of the ‘big four’ banks – HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland – specifically around how they treat their small business and personal customers.
• The very opposite of a cash cow: Dairy Crest announces it is selling off its milk operations due to a massive drop in profits.
• M&S was delighted to announce the first rise in profits for clothing in four years - shares rise by nearly 10% as a result.
• The MAMILs (middle-aged men in lycra) will be delighted with news that Halfords plans to revive specialist bike store, Cycle Revolution, and cash in on the boom in recreational cycling.

Be sure to check the News section every Friday afternoon for this weekly commercial news round-up. Follow @LawCareersNetUK and @CityLawLIVE on Twitter for instant business news updates.