Business

Up to 660,000 jobs – many in the UK’s industrial heartlands – are at risk unless Boris Johnson speeds up green investment and moving to “net zero” carbon dioxide emissions, according to a major study. Many of the areas where jobs are most under threat include the “red wall” constituencies won by the Conservatives from

The former auditor of Patisserie Valerie is facing a multimillion pound fine nearly three years after the cafe chain collapsed in one of Britain’s biggest recent accounting scandals. Sky News has learnt that Grant Thornton is in advanced discussions with the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) about a settlement that could be finalised as soon as

Northern Ireland could see “instability, uncertainty and unpredictability” if there is an attempt to renegotiate the post-Brexit agreement, the European Commission’s vice president has warned. Maros Sefcovic said the Northern Ireland Protocol must be “properly implemented”, but admitted both sides would have to compromise. His warning came after DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said his

HGV driving tests will be relaxed to allow 50,000 more to be taken in an attempt to tackle the shortage of lorry drivers ahead of Christmas, the transport secretary has announced. Grant Shapps said that following a consultation, three changes will happen to speed up the process after the suspension of tests during the pandemic

Tens of thousands of businesses across the UK have called on Parliament to tackle soaring card fees which amounted to £46 per household last year. The companies argue that British businesses and consumers should be protected from the mounting cost of anti-competitive practices in card payments, which are adding to the price of goods and

Morrisons has warned it expects “industry-wide” price rises ahead and revealed some product shortages while reporting half-year results showing a 43% slump in profits. The UK’s fourth-largest supermarket chain by market share said the price hikes were to be “driven by sustained recent commodity price increases and freight inflation, and the current shortage of HGV

Britain’s economic recovery is expected to slow over coming months thanks to staff shortages and supply chain disruption, according to a new forecast from a leading business group. Official figures show UK GDP grew by 4.8% in the second quarter but the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) predicts this will slow to 2.8% in the

Halfords has become the latest big name company to report a hit to sales from supply chain disruption, warning its struggles may take time to overcome. The bikes-to-car parts and servicing retailer said like-for-like cycling sales were down by almost 23% in the 20 weeks to 20 August compared to the same period last year.

Sir Martin Sorrell’s construction of a second global marketing services empire will take another step forward on Wednesday with the acquisition of a Los Angeles-based agency serving clients including Adidas, BMW and Google. Sky News understands that S4 Capital will announce to the London Stock Exchange that it has agreed a merger between Cashmere and

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

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

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

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