Business

Business groups have criticised plans for a National Insurance hike as a drag on jobs growth just as firms seek to recover from the COVID-19 crisis. The 1.25 percentage point increase in NI contributions is intended to pay for reform of the social care system. But the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said it would

Restaurant spending edged higher for the first time since the start of the pandemic in August according data from Barclaycard pointing to a bumper month for the consumer economy. The figures showed overall consumer spending was ahead by 15.4% compared to the same period in 2019 before the coronavirus crisis – thanks to “socialising, shopping

A leading business lobby group has warned the government that the crisis resulting from the shortage of workers in key jobs could take up to two years to resolve, damaging the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The CBI said the impact was widespread – beyond the well-publicised 100,000 shortfall in HGV drivers which has

Luke Johnson, one of Britain’s best-known leisure entrepreneurs, is adding to his collection of e-commerce businesses by snapping up a leading online retailer of musical instruments. Sky News understands that Risk Capital Partners, Mr Johnson’s investment vehicle, has agreed to buy GAK, which trades from a flagship store in Brighton, West Sussex. The terms of

Almost 50 stores per day closed down across the UK during the first half of the year, research suggests. Some 8,739 outlets went out of business across high streets, retail parks and shopping centres between January and June, figures from the Local Data Company suggest. But 3,488 opened during the same period, resulting a net

Manchester United Football Club is closing in on the appointment of an internal successor to Ed Woodward, its long-standing boss. Sky News has learnt that the club’s New York-listed parent company could announce within weeks that Richard Arnold, Manchester United’s group managing director, will take over from Mr Woodward. One insider said that a statement

The US added far fewer new jobs this past month than anticipated, as a resurgent COVID-19 fuelled by the more transmissible Delta variant strikes hard across less vaccinated states. According to data published on Friday, American employers added 235,000 jobs in August, well short of the 728,000 expected by economists – and down from just

Retail giant Ikea says at least 1,000 of its product lines have been disrupted by the shortage of lorry drivers. It is the latest company to be caught up in the supply chain chaos currently affecting the UK. The firm said in a statement that a “perfect storm of issues, including the disruption of global

The recruitment industry has warned that the end of the furlough scheme this month is unlikely to put much of a dent in the UK’s record number of job vacancies, in the short term at least. The latest jobs recovery tracker from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) showed there were 1.66 million jobs on

Price rises for consumers are “inevitable” as a consequence of the HGV driver shortage, the boss of Iceland has warned. Almost 50,000 drivers have left the road in the last two years, leaving retailers, suppliers, and hauliers competing for a diminished pool to supply clients. The scramble for supplies has led to sharp increases in

JD Sports has been told its takeover of rival Footasylum still faces being blocked – even after it successfully challenged an earlier ruling against it by the competition regulator. The retailer’s boss Peter Cowgill said he was “perplexed and disappointed” after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) again found that it should sell the smaller

Wetherspoons has become the latest well-known business to experience supply shortages, with some of its beers not available. A spokesman said the pub chain’s supply problems with Carling and Coors were the knock-on effect from industrial action by delivery drivers working for another brewer, and apologised to customers. It is the latest company to be

House prices staged a surprise surge in August despite the winding down of Britain’s stamp duty holiday, according to new figures. Prices rose by 2.1% over the month after growth had slowed to 0.6% in July, a report from lender Nationwide showed. Year-on-year growth climbed to 11% and prices are now around 13% higher than

Rising wages and huge demand for HGV drivers has led to unprecedented numbers of people seeking training for licences, according to Britain’s largest private driver training company. Hughes Driver Training, based in Leicestershire, told Sky News it’s sending around 100 for HGV Class I and II testing per week, including many sent directly by haulage

Zoom has reported quarterly revenues of more than $1bn for the first time but shares fell as it warned of demand cooling. The video-conferencing platform posted sales of $1.02bn for the three months to the end of July, up 54% on the same period a year ago while profits climbed 71% to $317m. It has

The Chinese government has banned under-18s from playing online games for more than an hour a day, and then only between 8pm and 9pm on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and public holidays. The ban will be enforced by online gaming companies which are now required to strictly enforce rules requiring users to register accounts with their

The price of toys will spike this Christmas as the cost of delays and shortages hit shoppers’ pockets, according the boss of a British toy company. As businesses try to recover some of the expense of shipping items to the UK, which has soared in the COVID-19 pandemic, parents might have to fork out even

Thousands of cash points have disappeared during the pandemic with many not being replaced, new data shows. Around 8,000 ATMs have been switched off in the past 18 months, according to research by consumer group, Which? – equating to a fall of around 13%. The vast majority of cash machines were put out of action

J Sainsbury, Britain’s second-biggest supermarket chain, is in advanced talks to sell its banking arm nearly a year after kicking off an auction of the division. Sky News has learnt that the grocer is nearing an agreement to sell Sainsbury’s Bank to Centerbridge Partners, a US-based private equity firm. The discussions are said to be

The UK food and drink sector has called for a temporary visa class to be established for urgently required workers, such as lorry drivers. A new cross-industry report has urged the government to institute a so-called COVID-19 Recovery Visa that would last for 12 months, in order to help alleviate the workforce shortages that are