KATHMANDU: Smart Foods & Snacks Pvt Ltd has appointed Nepal National Cricket team Captain, Paras Khadka, as the brand ambassador for their popular noodles brand ABC Choice. Paras will be the new face to represent this brand in the Nepali market, as per a press statement issued on Wednesday. With the tagline ‘ABC Choice Sabaiko Choice’, Smart Foods & Snacks Pvt Ltd plans to position ABC Choice noodles as the first choice among consumers. Smart Foods & Snacks Pvt Ltd has been producing various other snacks and food items in many different flavours. Some other popular brands of the company are Yum Yum Noodles, Hits, Trophy Chicken, Yum Yum Baby Noodles and Halchal, among others.

France growth data

PARIS: France’s economy grew by 0.6 per cent in the first quarter of this year, the national statistics agency Insee said on Wednesday, revising up its initial estimate by a tenth of a percentage point. It also revised up GDP growth to 0.1 per cent in the final quarter of last year from its previous calculation of no growth. In a particularly encouraging sign, investment by companies rose by 0.3 per cent during the quarter. Business investment has been considered the weak link in the recovery across most of Europe. France has been lowering taxes on businesses to encourage investment and employment, and the Insee statistics showed that their profit rate increased to 31.1 per cent in the first quarter — its highest level since the beginning of 2011.

Barclays hires broker

LONDON: Barclays has appointed US bank JPMorgan as its corporate broker replacing Credit Suisse, the British bank told Reuters on Wednesday, making the change as new Chairman John McFarlane begins a revamp of the lender. Barclays said it made the choice after inviting investment banks to pitch for the role. It kept on Deutsche Bank which was already one of its brokers, the bank said. Corporate brokers, a setup peculiar to Britain, are investment bankers who act as an intermediary between public companies and their institutional investors. They are meant to be a company’s trusted adviser, using expertise built up over years of being its eyes and ears in the market.