Retail sales took an unexpected fall last month, according to official figures suggesting a slump to COVID lockdown levels with only online operators seeing growth. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a 0.3% decline overall in October 2023, following a fall of 1.1% in September. A rise in volumes of 0.3% had been expected
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The government has announced plans to remove benefits and step up monitoring of welfare recipients in an effort to bring more people into work. Job seekers will have benefits such as free prescriptions and legal aid removed if they’re judged not to be looking for work under the chancellor’s Back to Work Plan which aims
Hotel Chocolat has agreed to a £534m takeover offer from Mars, the maker of goods from Snickers bars to Pedigree dog food. The UK specialist chocolatier retailer said the offer represented a 170% premium to its London share price of 139p and the deal would allow its brand to expand internationally This breaking news story
Manchester United has confirmed its chief executive of two years, Richard Arnold, “has decided to step down” as part of a “management transition”. The development was revealed shortly after Sky News reported that Mr Arnold would be replaced by the club’s general counsel, Patrick Stewart, on an interim basis. The change is taking place as
There has been a sharp decline in the rate of inflation to 4.6%, driven by a big easing in energy costs. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the annual rate slowed last month, from the 6.7% figure reported in September, mainly due to the lower energy price cap imposed on households at the start
Roughly 500 jobs are to go at pharma giant Pfizer’s Kent site. The roles are to be cut as Pfizer is discontinuing its pharmaceutical sciences small molecule (PSSM) operations at Sandwich in Kent, the company confirmed to Sky News. It’s part of a company-wide cost-cutting program, Pfizer said. Affected staff were notified on Tuesday morning
The pace of wage growth has eased back from a record level, according to official figures that also showed no change in the UK’s jobless rate despite the tough economy. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that average wages excluding bonuses were 7.7% higher than a year earlier in the three months to September.
Royal Mail has been fined £5.6m by the industry regulator for missing targets covering both first and second-class deliveries. Ofcom said that for the 2022-23 financial year – a time when it was hit by 18 days of strikes by frontline workers – Royal Mail’s reported performance results showed that it had only delivered 73.7%
An infrastructure investor owned by Schroders, the fund management behemoth, is in pole position to buy a solar farms operator that received hundreds of millions of pounds from a scandal-hit local authority. Sky News understands that Schroders Greencoat has become the leading contender to acquire Toucan Energy, which collapsed into administration exactly a year ago.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) wants government action over escalating baby formula prices that are “exploiting” UK families. In an interview with Sky News, WHO called out the “profit-driven” multinational manufacturers for “manipulating the price” of their baby formulas. The most recent research shows prices in the UK have risen 24% over the past two
Nigel Farage will next week begin a formal legal fight with NatWest Group and its former boss as he seeks millions of pounds in damages over the debanking scandal which escalated into a crisis for the state-backed lender. Sky News has learnt that Mr Farage, the former UKIP leader, has instructed London-based Grosvenor Law to
£7.6m is a lot of money to leave on the table by anyone’s standards. NatWest Group, the taxpayer-backed bank, hopes that headline-grabbing number will persuade stakeholders that it has taken a tough line on the severance package handed to Dame Alison Rose, its former chief executive. Indeed, Dame Alison herself might claim that she herself
Families “should feel optimistic” that the worst of the cost-of-living crisis is over, the chancellor has told Sky News. Acknowledging households have “suffered enormously” from energy, food and fuel inflation in the last 18 months, Jeremy Hunt said they should now feel some relief despite the UK economy slowing to a halt in the third
Former NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose is to lose £7.6m of her payout as the bank group seeks to draw a line under the debanking row sparked by the closure of Nigel Farage’s Coutts accounts. However, she will still receive around £1.7m. Dame Alison stepped down in late July after admitting she discussed the former
NatWest Group is to scrap the bulk of a possible £10m-plus payout to Dame Alison Rose, its former chief executive, as it tries to draw a line under the debanking row sparked by the closure of Nigel Farage’s Coutts accounts. Sky News has learnt that the board of NatWest, which is just under 40% owned
A regulator has outlined concerns about the “intensity of competition” between fuel retailers. In its first monitoring update since finding that drivers were overcharged by supermarkets last year, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was yet to receive crucial data on fuel margins covering September and October. It said that while margins –