Business

The UK’s public sector debt has hit 100% of the value of the country’s annual economic output for the first time since the 1960s, according to official figures released ahead of the chancellor’s maiden budget. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, in a preliminary estimate, that the figure had risen from the 99.3% figure

Post Office campaigner Sir Alan Bates has blamed government “flimflam artists” for dragging out financial redress for victims. In a newsletter, seen by Sky News, he criticises the GLO (Group Litigation Order) scheme for being a “gravy train” for government lawyers, He adds it is “seemingly to ensure maximum income for the lawyers and minimal

Britain’s biggest water utility is lining up court dates to push through a massive debt restructuring that could keep it out of government hands. Sky News has learnt that advisers to Thames Water have approached a broad group of investors including Apollo Global Management and Goldentree to gauge their appetite to participate in a multibillion

Britain’s biggest water utility is lining up court dates to push through a massive debt restructuring that could keep it out of government hands. Sky News has learnt that advisers to Thames Water have approached a broad group of investors including Apollo Global Management and Goldentree to gauge their appetite to participate in a multibillion

US interest rates have been slashed for the first time in more than four years – and by more than many expected – amid fears the world’s largest economy is flagging. Not since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic has there been a drop in the cost of US borrowing as the US central

Post Office chief executive Nick Read is to step down, the company has announced. Mr Read had temporarily stepped back from the role in July to prepare for the next stage of the Horizon scandal inquiry. Neil Brocklehurst, the current interim chief operating officer, has been asked to replace Mr Read as acting CEO. “It

A medical technology company which produces tissue-healing surgical products has become the latest London-listed business to draw interest from buyout firms. Sky News has learnt that Inflexion, the private equity group, has been studying a takeover of Advanced Medical Solutions Group (AMS Group), which has a market capitalisation of over £500m. On Tuesday evening, it

Guardian Media Group (GMG) is in talks to sell The Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper, to Tortoise Media, a start-up founded five years ago by a former BBC and Times executive. Sky News can exclusively reveal that GMG was in the process of informing staff on The Observer on Tuesday that it is in

A former Treasury official is leading the race to become the next chairman of Lloyd’s of London, one of the City’s most prestigious posts. Sky News has learnt that Sir Charles Roxburgh is the frontrunner to replace Bruce Carnegie-Brown in the role. City sources said a process in which other candidates were being considered was

The iconic Belfast company that built the Titanic is to collapse into administration. Harland & Wolff has announced it is insolvent and will appoint administrators. An administration order will likely be made this week, it added. Jobs are likely to be lost, the company said, but it did not detail how many. “Workers, their families

Legal & General, the FTSE-100 insurance and asset management giant, will this week pick a new home for Cala Group, its housebuilding subsidiary. Sky News has learnt that Sixth Street, the US-based investor, has emerged as the frontrunner to buy Cala, which ranks among Britain’s ten biggest housebuilders. Sixth Street has teamed up with Patron

The number of second homes being put up for sale in one part of Wales has increased by more than 250% – as homeowners and businesses criticise the Welsh government’s council tax premium. Many councils in Wales now charge an inflated tax rate for second homes, up to 300%, with the aim of freeing up

Babcock International, the London-listed defence contractor, is weighing a possible bid for some of the assets of Harland and Wolff, the shipbuilder which is close to collapse. Sky News has learnt that Babcock, which has a market value of £2.4bn, has expressed an interest in Harland and Wolff’s Belfast shipyard which is famous for having

A London-listed automotive components supplier has become the latest British-based company to draw overseas takeover interest after receiving a series of offers from a Canadian rival. Sky News has learnt that TI Fluid Systems has received at least two bid proposals from ABC Technologies Holdings, a Canadian competitor. City sources said on Friday evening that

Two of Britain’s biggest newspaper publishers are taking the axe to their US workforces, slashing scores of jobs in the latest evidence of mounting financial pressures across the media sector. Sky News has learnt that News UK, the publisher of The Sun, and DMGT, owner of the Daily Mail, have this week announced sweeping internal

Sir Mohamed Mansour, the former Conservative Party treasurer, has been approached about backing a bid for The Daily Telegraph being spearheaded by Nadhim Zahawi, the erstwhile Tory chancellor. Sky News has learnt that Sir Mohamed, who holds dual British and Egyptian citizenship, is among a number of wealthy individuals who have been sounded out about

The gap between how much money the state takes in and its spending will triple in the next 50 years, according to independent forecasters. Public debt will rise due to an ageing and ill population as well as climate change, the fiscal watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has said. The ratio between debt

High-end department store chain John Lewis is on course to profit tens of millions of pounds more despite cost of living pressures eating into shop sales. The profit forecast comes as the employee-owned John Lewis Partnership (JLP) behind the Waitrose and John Lewis shops reported a loss for the first half of the year amid

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has signalled her first budget as chancellor could be a painful mix of spending cuts, tax rises and increased borrowing. Speaking to Sky News after official figures showed the economy flatlined in July with GDP growth of 0.0%, she refused to rule out increasing business and wealth taxes, or further cuts to

The chancellor has defended the government’s £500m steel industry subsidy, with thousands of jobs set to be lost at Britain’s biggest steelworks. When asked why the government is spending money on jobs that are going to be scrapped, Rachel Reeves said the steel industry was “incredibly important” to the UK economy. The government, Ms Reeves