Business

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

A slump in oil prices could lead to further reductions at the fuel pumps but any benefit risks being stripped away next month as the chancellor seeks ways to bolster the public finances. A barrel of Brent crude, the international benchmark, slipped below $70 for the first time since December 2021 on Tuesday afternoon. The

A victim of the Post Office Horizon scandal has told Sky News that plans for a new appeals process are “unacceptable” on several fronts. Chris Head, once the youngest sub-postmaster in the UK but who lost everything when he was wrongly accused of theft, spoke out after the business secretary Jonathan Reynolds told MPs the

The state pension is due to rise by 4% in April, giving an extra £460 a year to recipients. The payment increases by the highest of total average weekly earnings, inflation for September or 2.5%. Figures on Tuesday showed average weekly earnings rose by 4% in the three months to July. Inflation data for September

The remaining bidders for The Daily Telegraph have been given a deadline for revised bids for the right-leaning newspaper as its stablemate, The Spectator magazine, clinches a £100m sale to the hedge fund tycoon Sir Paul Marshall. Sky News understands that RedBird IMI, the Abu Dhabi-backed entity which was thwarted in its efforts to buy

A clearing bank launched just three years ago is raising tens of millions of pounds of fresh funding just days after it was served with a winding-up petition by the UK tax authorities. Sky News understands that The Bank of London, which attempted to rescue Silicon Valley Bank UK last year, is progressing plans for

More than 100 Body Shop stores have been saved from closure after a deal was struck to rescue one of Britain’s best known high street chains. The well-known retailer was bought out of administration by a consortium led by “Cosmetics King” Mike Jatania. The millionaire tycoon’s investment firm Aurea announced the completion of the acquisition

The Aston Martin Formula One team is to set a new valuation benchmark by selling a large stake to two of the world’s most prominent investment funds. Sky News can exclusively reveal that HPS Investment Partners, a US-based firm which manages roughly $115bn in assets, and Accel, one of the giants of the Silicon Valley

Three out of four parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have been forced to give up work, or cut their hours, Sky News has learned. In a survey of more than 500 people, two out of five (40%) had to leave their jobs, and more than one in three (33%) reduced

A stronger performance for job creation in the United States appears to have eased financial market fears of a US recession. Closely-watched employment data showed that 142,000 net new jobs were created in the world’s largest economy last month. While that was below forecasts of 160,00, it represented a significant recovery on a downwardly revised

The UK economy would need investment of £1trn pounds over a decade for an annual growth rate of 3% to be achieved, according to a business lobby group. The Capital Markets Industry Taskforce (CMIT), which represents leaders in the financial services sphere, said £100bn a year must be found to help the country catch up

The new owners of The Body Shop are lining up tens of millions of pounds in new financing as they finalise a deal to buy the chain out of administration. Sky News has learnt that Aurea, an investment company led by Mike Jatania, a cosmetics entrepreneur, is in advanced talks to secure more than £30m

Royal Mail may not be obligated to deliver second class letters on a Saturday in future, under plans being considered by the industry regulator. Ofcom, which launched a consultation on the company’s universal service obligation (USO) earlier this year, said such a shift would protect priority deliveries, including first class mail, and help loss-making Royal

An American investment firm has joined forces with one of the remaining bidders for Cala Group, the privately owned housebuilder which has been put on the market. Sky News understands that Sixth Street has teamed up with Patron Capital Partners – Cala’s former owner – in an effort to trump a rival offer from Persimmon,

Stock markets globally are feeling the pain of a US-led slump that was sparked by renewed concerns for the country’s economy and artificial intelligence-linked values. The darling of US stocks since 2019, AI chipmaker Nvidia, saw its shares plunge almost 10% on the back of poorly received earnings growth last week. Other tech stocks in

EY, the big four auditor, has assembled a female-dominated shortlist to become the firm’s new UK and Ireland managing partner, paving the way for it to elect a woman to its top British executive position for the first time. Sky News has learnt that EY partners were briefed on Tuesday that one of Anna Anthony,

American tech giant Hewlett Packard has said it is to continue with legal proceedings “through to their conclusion” to seek up to £3bn in damages from late British billionaire Mike Lynch’s estate in the UK. The company had been seeking compensation over its acquisition of British tech firm Autonomy amid claims of fraud masterminded by

Legal powers introduced since the Grenfell Tower fire to force building owners to fix serious fire safety issues are being ignored, Sky News can reveal. One of the UK’s first Building Remediation Orders, issued by a judge last year, gave the owners of a block of flats in Bristol six months to fix serious fire