Business

The owners of Royal Mail have agreed to a £3.6bn takeover bid by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. The company’s parent firm International Distribution Services (IDS) said its board of directors had approved the deal after a formal offer was made earlier this month. Mr Kretinsky’s EP Group already owns 27.6% of the business. Shareholders will

UK drivers are paying the most for diesel in all of Europe, according to car and breakdown services company the RAC. The average cost for a litre of diesel is 155p, 5p more expensive than the second highest average amount of 150p a litre paid in Ireland and Belgium. Money latest – Thieves targeting electric

Rishi Sunak’s committee of business advisers refused to publicly back the government’s economic policy record on Tuesday amid an escalating row over Labour’s efforts to steal the Conservative Party’s traditional mantle as ‘the party of business’. Sky News contacted all 15 of the companies represented on the prime minister’s business council to see whether their

More than 120 business leaders have written an open letter giving their backing to Labour in the general election. Senior figures, including chef Tom Kerridge and former CEOs of Heathrow, JP Morgan and Aston Martin, said the party had “shown it has changed and wants to work with business to achieve the UK’s full economic

Rishi Sunak will meet leading Conservative Party donors on Monday evening as he seeks to mobilise financial support for the surprisingly timed general election campaign he triggered last week. Sky News understands that the prime minister will have dinner with a small group of long-standing and more recent donors as the Tories target millions of

An Indian pharmaceutical group is closing in on a deal to snap up Nicotinell, the anti-smoking aid, from Haleon, its FTSE-100 parent company. Sky News has learnt that Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories could be within days of acquiring the brand and a number of lesser-known European products from Haleon. Sources said a deal was likely

One of Britain’s biggest housebuilders is exploring a £1bn takeover bid for Cala Group, a rival player in the sector which has been put up for sale. Sky News has learned that Persimmon, which has a market value of £4.74bn, is leaning towards submitting an offer for Cala ahead of a bid deadline next week.

In the 15-year scandal of the Post Office, this may be remembered as the day that hundreds of sub-postmasters, subject to the greatest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, were finally heard. In Westminster, the Post Office Offences Act was being rushed through parliament, included in the ‘wash-up’ triggered by the general election. Come

Pocket money is in decline, data shows – but kids are finding new ways to pay for their everyday “essentials”. Data from the NatWest pocket money index (looking at transactions from 308,000 children in the Rooster app), shared with our Money blog, shows only 30% of families now pay pocket money as part of a

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has admitted to amending the legal document Royal Mail issued to would-be investors before it became publicly owned to remove mention of the flawed Horizon IT system. Data from the accounting software created by Fujitsu was used to prosecute more than 700 sub-postmasters for theft and false accounting. Many

The average annual energy bill will be £506 cheaper than a year ago from July, the sector’s regulator has announced. The energy price cap – which limits what can be charged per unit of energy – is due to fall from the month after next. It means the average annual bill will be £1,568 a

Punters hoping to enjoy a swift pint may have been left with a bit of a headache – after an investigation found nearly 90% of beer served in UK pubs and bars is short-measured. Trading Standards officers ordered beer and wine at 77 pubs and bars and were served 96 short measures out of 137

Growth in the UK’s powerhouse services sector has cooled by more than expected to its weakest level in six months, according to a closely-watched survey of businesses. As campaigning got underway for a general election that is widely expected to be dominated by the economy, the S&P Global UK Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) suggested

Plans for a multibillion pound mass market sale of the government’s stake in NatWest Group have been derailed by Rishi Sunak’s decision to call a summer general election. Sky News can reveal that a proposed retail offer of shares in the taxpayer-backed bank will be scuppered by the timing of the poll. The Treasury has

The account of the Post Office’s former chief executive about what she knew during key years of the firm’s scandal is not believed by the former CEO of Royal Mail, the inquiry into the injustice has heard. Paula Vennells has been giving evidence as part of a three-day appearance at the inquiry into the impact

A victim of the Post Office Horizon scandal has told Sky News that ex-boss Paula Vennells must “come clean” in her evidence to the statutory inquiry. Chirag Sidhpura, a former sub-postmaster who became one of the public champions for justice based on his own treatment at the hands of the Post Office, said he was

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said the UK economy is heading for a “soft landing” but reiterated its message to Jeremy Hunt that he should not have cut national insurance at the last two fiscal events. In its annual check-up on the state of Britain’s economy, the Washington-based Fund also warned of a black

“Workers united, will never be defeated!” a man shouts into a loud hailer. He is part of a crowd marching through the streets of Manchester in a May Day parade, organised by some of Britain’s biggest trade unions. The sun is shining and there’s a festival atmosphere, as his fellow marchers hold aloft placards about

Traders are facing increased costs and more paperwork due to Brexit border controls, according to a new report from the independent public spending watchdog. The government is estimated to have spent £4.7bn so far but some of that spending was not necessary, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said. Despite the UK voting to leave

Getir, the grocery delivery app which this month confirmed plans to exit the UK, has an outstanding debt to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club running to millions of pounds. Sky News understands that Turkey-based Getir, whose three-year training kit sponsorship deal with Spurs expired at the end of the Premier League season on Sunday, owes close