In brief: 888 unscathed by Suarez incident, NS&I boosted by premium bonds, BlackBerry over its thorny patch

Online gambling firm 888 posted a 15% rise in second quarter sales today to $111 million, buoyed by its business-to-business arm.

Chief executive Brian Mattingley said its consumer division had also performed strongly and prospects for the third quarter remain positive. The poker firm cancelled its sponsorship deal with footballer Luis Suarez in June after he bit an opponent during the World Cup.

The raising of the maximum holding of premium bonds from £30,000 to £40,000 in June saw NS&I, the Government-owned savings institution, receive an extra £200 million from Britons between April and July.

It took in £5.1 billion in cash in the three months, up from £4.9 billion in the same time a year earlier, and saw £3.6 billion paid out, £200 million less than the same time in 2013. Some £600 million of that was prizes and interest payments.

One-time smartphone titan BlackBerry has finished its long, painful restructuring process and is back on a growth footing, according to a leaked internal memo.

“We have completed the restructuring notification process, and the workforce reduction that began three years ago is now behind us,” chief executive John Chen wrote in the memo, seen by Reuters. He said staff would be hired in certain areas.