Business

For some time now, the City has been doing some soul-searching over its future. There was a lot of speculation around the time of Brexit that, deprived of the “passport” that enabled UK-based firms to do business in the EU without having permission from each individual country regulator, there would be heavy job losses in

The number of people taking “breathing space” from their debt problems has soared by more than a third year-on-year, official data shows. There were 23,179 registrations for the relief in the first three months of 2023, up 34% from the same period in 2022, according to Insolvency Service figures. Of this total, 22,770 were standard

The world’s largest economy slowed sharply in the first quarter of the year, according to the first official estimate which has raised fears of recession ahead. Growth was measured at an annualised rate of 1.1% between January and March, the Commerce Department said. Economists had been expecting a figure of 2%. The slump followed growth

Vodafone is closing in on the appointment of a new boss after its interim chief executive won support from key institutional investors for her stewardship of the telecoms giant. Sky News has learnt that the FTSE-100 group’s board is leaning towards naming Margherita Della Valle, who was its finance chief between 2018 and the end

It is rare for a decision by the UK’s competition regulator to make waves globally. The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has traditionally not been as significant a force in preventing corporate deals as the European Commission or the US Federal Trade Commission. So the CMA’s decision to block Microsoft’s $75bn takeover of the games

The British competition watchdog has blocked Microsoft’s bid to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stopped the $68.7bn (£55bn) deal due to concerns that it would stifle competition in the cloud gaming market. In its final report on Wednesday, the CMA said that the move was “the only effective

The Bank of England’s chief economist has urged people to accept they are poorer, warning that inflation risks remaining stubbornly high. Huw Pill told a podcast that people and businesses have responded to higher bills and costs by asking for higher wages or charging their customers more money. His remarks echoed warnings from Bank governor

The chief executive of Ted Baker is close to leaving the company six months after it was taken over by a giant American brands and entertainment conglomerate. Sky News has learnt that Rachel Osborne, who took the helm at the British retailer in the midst of a governance and accounting crisis in 2020, is expected

Renee Elliott, the founder of Planet Organic, is returning to spearhead a rescue deal for the supermarket chain she launched in 1995. Sky News has learnt that Ms Elliott has agreed to lead a takeover of Planet Organic in a deal expected to be finalised on Tuesday. City sources said she had assembled backing from

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt says there is “no point” in talking to the CBI while the lobby group is dealing with allegations that have brought its future into doubt. Speaking at the Business Connect conference attended by the Prime Minister, an event arranged by Downing Street to address the business community, Mr Hunt said the government

A former chief executive of Asda has sealed a rescue deal for an online butcher which counts Fortnum & Mason and Harrods among its customers. Sky News understands that Andy Clarke, who left the supermarket giant in 2016, has agreed a transaction to buy Farmison & Co, which collapsed into administration earlier this month. Mr

Some of Britain’s biggest companies are this weekend scrambling to fill the void left by the crisis at the CBI as they consider backing a new body being set up after talks with Conservative and Labour officials. Sky News has learnt that businesses from across a range of sectors including banking, insurance, retail and telecoms

A British company believes sewage could provide the solution to the UK’s salad supply shortages as a huge rise in wholesale gas prises has impacted growers. Oasthouse Ventures has huge greenhouses in Bury St Edmunds and Norwich which extract heat from the sewage at local treatment works, transferring it to heat pumps at their sites.

A flood of companies announced they were either leaving the CBI or suspending their membership after a series of allegations of sexual misconduct against staff. The rush for the exit door came after the Guardian newspaper reported that a second woman had made a rape allegation – against two male CBI co-workers. Here are some

If one were to compile a list of some of the most prestigious blue-chip UK employers, it would probably include NatWest, BP, Shell, Aviva, the John Lewis Partnership, Virgin Media O2, WPP, Phoenix Group, BT, PwC, EY, Schroders and AstraZeneca. Were that list to be enhanced with prestigious foreign-owned businesses that are major employers in

The most bitter UK industrial dispute of the last year is on the verge of being settled as the union representing 112,000 frontline Royal Mail workers agrees to recommend the terms of a peace deal. The company and Communication Workers Union (CWU) have been at each others’ throats for more than 11 months but agreed