Thomas Cook (LON:TCG) boss Peter Fankhauser has admitted he regrets saying that the company had done "nothing wrong" when giving evidence at a Coroner's Court last week.
A jury found the tour operator “breached its duty of care” over the deaths of Bobby and Christi Shepherd, aged six and seven, who died from carbon monoxide poisoning on one of the firm’s holidays in Corfu in 2006.
Fankhauser told jurors: "I feel so thoroughly, from the deepest of my heart, sorry, but there's no need to apologise because there was no wrongdoing by Thomas Cook.
Today however, he said he regretted his choice of words and added that he took responsibility for the way the company has communicated with the children’s family.
"I don't want to blame the lawyers. It's ultimately my responsibility how we communicate. Obviously we could have done better.
“We did not handle our relationship with the family well. During the past nine years we failed to show the compassion that we should have shown to the family.”
Thomas Cook received £3.5mln in compensation over the deaths of the children. The parents of Bobby and Christi Shepherd received only about a tenth of that figure.
Reporting the firm's first half results on Wednesday, Fankhauser said that bookings haven't been affected so far, despite calls to boycott the firm over the handling of the case.
Elsewhere, UBS is set to pay US$545mln (£352mln) over Libor and foreign exchange rate rigging.
The Swiss bank will plead guilty to wire fraud and pay a fresh US$203mln fine on Libor alone.
In addition, the bank will pay a US$342mln penalty to the US Federal Reserve, for “engaging in unsound business practices” related to its foreign-exchange business.
Other global banks are expected to announce US settlements today over manipulating foreign exchange rates.
Retail operating profits at energy group SSE (LON:SSE) have risen by nearly 40% to £457mMLN after the firm hiked up prices for consumers.
The firm's annual results report said the huge rise in earnings "followed an increase in household electricity and gas tariffs in November 2013".
The growth comes despite SSE lowering prices twice in a year in which, according to government data, the wholesale price of gas has fallen by 16.7%.
Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS) announced its first annual profit rise in four years with its clothing arm showing signs of promise.
"We have seen a far better consumer reaction to our clothing ranges over the last year," said Marks and Spencer chief executive Marc Bolland.
Meanwhile, shares in Burberry (LON:BRBY) opened lower this morning as investors deemed the first set of full-year results from chief executive Christopher Bailey unfashionable.
Revenues and pre-tax profit climbed and there was even a 10% dividend hike for investors.
However, the positives were overshadowed by a drop in adjusted profits, with FX costs weighing, and a cautious outlook statement.
Among the small caps, Neil Garner, the founder and chief executive of Proxama (LON:PROX) is to step aside after another year of heavy losses for the proximity marketing and payment systems group.
Sunrise Resources (LON:SRES) expects to gear up exploration at its Western Australian assets in the second half after recent rains and floods hampered work, it said, in latest half year results.
e-commerce specialist cloudBuy (LON:CBUY) was also in the news as the firm said it will power a new online marketplace for people to access social care.
It will first launch in the Lancashire region as the firm teams up with Salvere, the social enterprise CIC, before expanding into other areas.
“UK adult social care is under increasing pressure and the current model is no longer sustainable. The obvious solution is to bring citizens and suppliers together via a friendly environment on the web,” said cloudBuy chief executive Lyn Duncan.