Business

The Bank of England has edged closer to a cut in interest rates, with another member of its nine-person Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voting for lower borrowing costs this month. While the MPC voted 7-2 to leave UK interest rates on hold at 5.25%, the change in the vote will be seen as a further

The high street billionaire Mike Ashley is closing in on a deal to become the new British partner of Ted Baker, the struggling fashion chain. Sky News has learnt that Frasers Group has emerged as the preferred partner for the chain following the collapse of No Ordinary Designer Label (NODL), Ted Baker’s existing UK licensing

High street bank TSB has announced 250 job losses and the closure of 36 branches. The job cuts will be in the fraud operations department of the bank, central operations and staff who work at the branches earmarked for closure. Trade union Unite said the decision by the UK high street lender was a “grave

One of Britain’s biggest carpet retailers is axing more than 25% of its head office staff as it grapples with a protracted downturn in trading. Sky News understands that Carpetright, which is privately owned, notified staff on Tuesday morning that roughly 70 jobs would be lost as part of a cost-cutting process. The redundancies will

The boss of P&O Ferries – known for its fire-and-rehire of nearly 800 workers – has said he could not live on the less than £5-per-hour some of his staff are paid. The ferry company is paying employees an average of £5.20 an hour, two years after making 786 people redundant, and rehiring cheaper workers,

An estate agency group backed by the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group is being put up for sale in the latest sign of corporate activity in the sector. Sky News understands that LDC has hired bankers from Clearwater International to oversee a sale of Lomond Group. A process is expected to kick off

Heineken is investing £39m in more than 600 of its pubs in the UK – in a move it says will bring 62 back from the dead. The Dutch brewer said the cash injection into its Star Pubs operation will create more than 1,000 jobs. According to Star Pubs, 612 pubs are set to benefit,

The world’s second-largest steel company has warned the government that a planning verdict due this week could lead to a key division quitting the UK. Sky News has seen a letter sent by ArcelorMittal to Michael Gove, the levelling-up secretary, in which it says that a decision to allow the closure and redevelopment of part

Ordinary investors will be awarded ‘bonus’ shares in NatWest Group if they hold onto stock they acquire in the taxpayer-backed bank, under a plan expected to be finalised by ministers later this month. Sky News has learnt key details of the options being explored by the Treasury for a multibillion pound retail offer of NatWest shares,

Entain, the FTSE 100 gambling group, has been rebuffed by the former bosses of bookies Coral and Skybet in its hunt for a new chief executive. Sky News has learnt that Entain, which owns Ladbrokes, approached Andy Hornby, who now runs Wagamama’s parent company, and Richard Flint, who holds a portfolio of roles, about the

A former top Post Office lawyer has been accused of telling the Horizon IT inquiry a “big fat lie” over his knowledge of a bug in the system that could have stopped wrongful prosecutions of sub-postmasters in their tracks. Jarnail Singh was a senior in-house lawyer and subsequently head of criminal law at the Post

Official figures have raised fears of a deepening public sector drag on the the UK’s economic recovery from recession. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that productivity in the public sector, dominated by education and healthcare, deteriorated between the third and fourth quarters of 2023. It measured a 1.0% decline over the

HSBC is set to become the latest major international bank to remove the European Union-imposed bonus cap that had applied to its UK-based workers. The London headquartered lender’s shareholders voted in favour of scrapping the limit at its Annual General Meeting, the company said. The move was recommended by the board after the UK government

Goldman Sachs is removing a cap on bonuses for London-based staff, paving the way for it to resume making multimillion pound payouts to its best-performing traders and dealmakers. Sky News can exclusively reveal that the Wall Street banking giant notified its UK employees on Thursday that it had decided to abolish the existing pay ratio

One of the world’s leading economic authorities has warned the UK that borrowing should remain expensive until the rate of price rises eases further and stays there. Interest rates, which are at a post-2008-era high of 5.25%, should stay there, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Money latest:Tips for plane upgrades;

The US central bank, known as the Fed, has again kept interest rates high – at 5.25% to 5.5%. It comes despite the bank signaling in January that interest rate cuts were around the corner. Money latest: Bitcoin suffers nightmare month – and it’s just got worse Progress in bringing down rates and making borrowing

Shifting expectations for UK interest rate cuts have contributed to a dip in house price growth, according to a closely watched measure. Nationwide reported a 0.4% dip in average property costs last month compared with March, taking the annual rate of growth to 0.6% from 1.6%. The lender’s report said the easing reflected “ongoing affordability

A former boss of Camelot, the National Lottery operator, will be named this week as the next chairman of the Post Office as ministers seek to draw a line under the ugly row surrounding the exit of his predecessor. Sky News has learnt that the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has offered the chairmanship

An Abu Dhabi-backed vehicle has conceded defeat in its bid to buy The Daily Telegraph after its ownership was effectively blocked by the government. RedBird IMI announced it had placed The Telegraph and The Spectator titles up for sale, declaring that its ownership was “no longer feasible”. The move was confirmed after ministers revealed plans

Items bought in shops are becoming more expensive at the slowest pace in more than two years, according to latest industry figures which show that some prices are actually falling. It means that goods, such as clothes and food, are becoming more costly but far less than before, according to the shop price index from