Business

This Easter, chocolate lovers will no doubt have noticed they had to pay more for their eggs. Now, the cost of chocolate could soar after changing climate patterns hit cocoa supplies in west Africa. Seasonal dusty winds from the Sahara have been severe in recent months, blocking out the sunlight needed for cocoa bean pods

Adnams, one of the most historic names in British brewing, is to explore an outright sale amid a funding squeeze across the industry which has triggered a growing wave of insolvencies. Sky News has learnt that Adnams has begun contacting prospective investors and buyers after hiring advisers earlier this year to shore up its finances.

The CBI, the business lobbying group, has negotiated an extension of its overdraft in a fresh move to shore up its balance sheet after a year in which it came close to collapse. Sky News has learnt that in recent weeks the CBI and a syndicate of high street lenders have agreed an increase in

More than £1m of unexplained transactions were transferred in to Post Office profit at the height of the Horizon scandal, leaked documents have showed. The papers seen by Sky News show a snapshot of transfers from a Post Office “miscellaneous client” suspense account over a four year period, up to 2014. A suspense account is

Disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of stealing billions of dollars from his customers. He was the chief executive of FTX, which suddenly went bankrupt in November 2022 – leaving millions of users frozen out of their accounts and unable to make withdrawals. The 32-year-old

Sam Bankman-Fried was breathlessly described as a wunderkind – a boy wonder transforming the world of finance. Renowned for his messy hair and unkempt appearance, he graced the covers of Forbes and Fortune, who pondered whether he could become the next Warren Buffett. The 32-year-old was the founder of FTX, which had quickly become the

Millions of people are being urged to send meter readings to their energy supplier this weekend to ensure they don’t overpay. The regulator’s price cap drops 12.3% on Monday 1 April, from a typical £1,928 per year for a dual-fuel household to £1,690 – an average saving of about £20 per month. Money blog –

The competition regulator has urged UK fashion businesses to give accurate information about how environmentally friendly their clothes are after three fast-fashion firms signed a new agreement. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had initiated an investigation into Boohoo, ASOS and George by Asda over concerns about the way products were marketed as eco-friendly. Its

Up to eight million UK jobs are at risk from the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), according to a report warning that the low-skilled would be worst affected. The effects of generative AI are already being widely felt as 11% of tasks done by workers are currently exposed, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)

“The Welsh government need to realise that what they’re doing is damaging the industry.” That’s according to Sam Regan, owner and managing director of the Lemon Tree – a hotel and restaurant in Wrexham. The city has gained international attention in recent years as the home of the football club with the Hollywood star owners.

The collapse of the Baltimore bridge has trade implications, with the cost of rebuilding estimated to surpass $600m (£474.12m), experts have told Sky News. Local officials have said Baltimore port in Maryland, the United States – which sees more than a million shipping containers enter and exit every year – is closed for all maritime

The London-listed leisure group Revolution Bars is plotting the closure of a quarter of its venues as it holds talks with investors about an emergency fundraising and puts itself up for sale. Sky News has learnt that Revolution, which owns Peach Pubs and the Revolucion de Cuba chain, is drawing up plans to axe roughly

Ofgem has launched a discussion on the energy price cap, floating options such as a cap based on things such as vulnerability and when energy is used. The price cap was introduced in January 2019 to prevent people on variable tariffs being ripped off. Initially it was changed a couple of times a year but

The owner’s of Gail’s, the chain of bakeries and coffee shops, are preparing to hire advisers for a sale that would value it at well over the £200m price tag at which it changed hands nearly three years ago. Sky News understands that Bain Capital Credit and EBITDA Investments, a fund backed by serial restaurant

Nadhim Zahawi, the former chancellor, is in talks about chairing the biggest remaining part of the Barclay family’s business empire, fuelling speculation that he will join a mass exodus of Conservative MPs at the general election. Sky News has learnt that Mr Zahawi, the MP for Stratford-on-Avon since 2010, is among the candidates to become

The owners of The Daily Telegraph have been dealt a fresh blow after the collapse of the parent company behind Arrow XL, a UK-wide delivery business. Sky News has learnt that Logistics Group Limited, which until recently also owned Yodel, fell into administration earlier on Friday. The decision is understood to have been orchestrated by

JD Wetherspoon hopes to soon open its 1,000th pub in the UK after reporting another leap in profits. The chain currently has more than 800 branches but says its “best estimate” is the potential for around 200 more in the coming years. It comes as the pub giant revealed that its pre-tax profits soared to

Plans by Vodafone and Three to merge could lead to higher prices for millions of mobile phone users, the competition watchdog has warned. The proposed £15bn deal, announced last year, would bring 27 million customers together under a single provider. But the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it could lead to “higher prices and

Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund has completed a deal to take full ownership of McLaren Group, one of the most revered names in British manufacturing, after years of negotiations to put the company on a stable long-term footing. Sky News understands that McLaren will announce later on Friday that the recapitalisation of the supercar manufacturer and

A new £24m border control post may have to be demolished because repeated changes to post-Brexit border arrangements have left it commercially unviable. The facility at Portsmouth International Port is due to begin physical checks on food and plant imports from the EU at the end of next month, but changes to border protocols since