Business

Inflation has eased slightly to 10.1% from 10.5% the previous month as fuel price rises slowed. Decreased transport costs were one of the main drivers of the lower inflation rate, along with restaurants and hotels, as prices dropped in cafés and restaurants from the December Christmas period to January. Cost of living – latest: Semi-skimmed

Ford has announced that 1,300 jobs, a fifth of the workforce, is being cut from its UK business as part of a Europe-wide overhaul. The majority of the UK losses will be at the Ford site in Dunton, Essex – its UK headquarters and technical centre. Up to 1,000 jobs are to be axed at

A union representing hundreds of workers at an Amazon warehouse has revealed plans for seven more strike days. The GMB union said its members in Coventry would now take further industrial action on 28 February, 2 March and between 13-17 March. It marked an escalation in their pay fight, which began with a 24-hour strike

The number of working days lost to strike action totalled 843,000 in December, bringing the total number of strike days from June to December 2022 to 2,471,000, the highest since 1989, official figures show. There were 4,129,000 days lost to strike action in 1989 due to industrial action by rail workers and coal miners, the

The number of people that passed through the UK’s busiest airport returned to pre-pandemic levels last month. Heathrow reported 5.4 million people travelled through it in January, making it the busiest start to a year since 2020, before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. The vast majority of the travellers – 1.6 million – were from

The crisis engulfing MJ Hudson, the stricken asset management services provider, will deepen on Monday when it discloses that its auditor has resigned. Sky News has learnt that the London-listed company will announce that EY has quit less than 18 months after being appointed. The timing of EY’s resignation, coming so soon after its appointment,

Castore, the British sportswear brand backed by Sir Andy Murray, is in talks with investors about a $200m fundraising as it intensifies its battle with global rivals Adidas and Nike. Sky News has learnt that the Manchester-based business, which was founded by Liverpudlian brothers Phil and Tom Beahon, is working with bankers on plans to

Wilfred Frost stands in for Ian King this week and discusses the UK avoiding a recession by the thinnest of margins. He also talks to Auto Trader’s commercial director Ian Plummer about figures suggesting the current global economic difficulties are now hitting the used car market. And with The Brit Awards celebrating the best of

NatWest Group, the taxpayer-backed bank, is to increase its annual bonus pool for the second consecutive year as rising interest rates bolster the industry’s profitability. Sky News has learnt that the lender, which will report its results for 2022 next week, has signed off plans to pay out more than £350m in bonuses to staff.

Energy suppliers have agreed to end the forced installation of prepayment meters in vulnerable customers’ homes, the government has said. The move comes as an investigation revealed debt collectors working for British Gas forced their way into the homes of vulnerable customers. An undercover investigation by The Times claimed a company used by British Gas

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has not ruled out increasing pay offers to public sector workers, but warned that giving more money to teachers and nurses could entrench high inflation. Speaking as it was revealed the UK economy narrowly avoided recession in 2022, Mr Hunt also indicated he would resist pressure to cancel a planned cut to

Takeaway delivery platform Deliveroo has announced it is to cut roughly 350 jobs, equivalent to about 9% of the company workforce. Roles across the global Deliveroo business will be impacted, founder and chief executive Will Shu told staff, but it is understood that UK employees will be worst hit by the losses. The majority of

The company behind many popular consumer brands including Marmite and Magnum ice creams has said it expects price growth to ease later this year but not find a reverse gear. As the cost of living crisis continues to harm household spending power, Unilever forecast a €1.5bn (£1.3bn) impact from inflation during the first half of

Fixating on the short-term damage caused by Brexit is a “fake conversation”, the new Business and Trade Secretary has said, adding that it will “take time” for the shape of Britain’s new economic arrangements to become clear. In her first broadcast interview since business was added to her job brief, Kemi Badenoch told Sky News

McDonald’s has signed a legal agreement with the equality watchdog amid concerns over how it has handled sexual harassment complaints made by UK staff. A union representing some employees had claimed in 2019 that more than 1000 complaints had been logged. The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) had alleged a “toxic culture” at

So farewell, then, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). This pantomime horse of a government department was created by Theresa May in 2016 on the premise that it would deliver the industrial strategy the last prime minister-but-two declared the UK had been so lacking when she assumed office in 2016. However, when Mrs