Thames Water, which was due to run out of money, has been given a lifeline after a £3bn loan was approved by the High Court. The loan gives the UK’s biggest water provider time to sort out its finances and could ward off nationalisation. An appeal, however, will be launched by Lib Dem MP Charlie
Business
The business secretary will this week hold a fresh round of talks with British Steel’s Chinese owner amid protracted talks about a state bailout of the Scunthorpe-based company. Sky News has learnt that Jonathan Reynolds will discuss the future of the industrial group with Jingye Group’s boss, Li Huiming, in the latest chapter of a
The UK competition regulator has warned Topp Tiles’ purchase of 30 rival shops could make prices more expensive and services worse. On Monday the competition regulator the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) said the acquisition of CTD Tiles stores could lead to competition issues. Money blog: Nearly 300 pubs permanently closed last year Those competition
The private equity backer of Motor Fuel Group (MFG), one of Britain’s biggest petrol forecourt empires, is exploring the sale of a stake in a deal that could value it at about £7bn. Sky News has learnt that Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CDR), which has built MFG from a mid-sized industry player over the course
Crisis-hit Thames Water has launched a bid to charge its customers more over the next five years than the industry regulator will allow, arguing it has been unfairly treated. Britain’s biggest household supplier, which is in a battle for survival as it grapples a £19bn debt pile, had sought a 53% hike to bills from
Regulators have proposed sweeping changes for the baby formula industry, saying high prices and branding are leading to “poor outcomes” for parents. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found many brands cost more than the weekly value of people’s benefits, leading some parents to forgo food to buy formula. The report was released nearly two
Deep under the Bank of England, in a network of vaults into which cameras are rarely admitted, sits the world’s second biggest known trove of gold. Once upon a time the Bank’s vaults stored bullion owned by the Crown but these days they serve mostly as a repository for other central banks and private banks
The number of first-time buyers rose by almost a fifth last year, according to data from Halifax. The bank said 2024 saw 341,068 people buy their first properties, up by 19% from 2023. While the figures are a rebound from 2023’s 22% drop, they are not as high as they were in 2022. That year
The government is continuing to put Post Office victims through “hell” in their fight for redress, Sir Alan Bates has told Sky News. More than 240 former sub-postmasters are still waiting for financial compensation years after they won their High Court battle. Sir Alan’s comments come after another former sub-postmaster, Terry Walters from Wilmslow in
The UK economy grew fractionally during the final three months of 2024, according to early official figures, which ease the immediate risk of a recession. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a 0.1% rise in gross domestic product (GDP) during the fourth quarter, with only a recovery for growth in Christmas spending and manufacturing
The boss of Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) has said she is “appalled and disgusted” by the sex trafficking claims against her predecessor Mike Jeffries. Fran Horowitz, who has led the US-based company since the departure of Mr Jeffries, signalled in an interview with Sky News that A&F had examined and transformed its culture since the
Heathrow’s boss has told Sky News of his hopes a third runway can be built by 2035, declaring it will not need public funding. Thomas Woldbye was speaking as the UK’s biggest airport announced a “once-in-a-generation investment”, beginning this year, to improve existing terminals and boost passenger numbers. The development is separate from a new
OpenAI’s chief executive and co-founder has told Sky News that his platform is “not for sale” after a group led by Elon Musk launched an unsolicited $97.4bn (£78.7bn) bid overnight. Sam Altman, who is attending the Paris AI Summit with world leaders, was asked whether he can still afford OpenAI after Mr Musk’s bid. “The
British wholesale gas prices have reached a more than two-year high, risking yet more expensive energy bills. Low rates of gas storage in Britain and across Europe, combined with cold weather, have increased demand for gas to heat homes. It’s brought the price up to 140 pence a therm (a unit of heat used to
Companies are slowing investment until they see more momentum in the economy, according to a closely-watched report on employment conditions which warns that budget measures are “acting as brakes” on hiring. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG’s latest snapshot on recruitment found permanent staff vacancies declined at the steepest rate since August 2020
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has called in the bosses of Britain’s biggest high street lenders for a fresh round of talks on the government’s economic growth agenda. Sky News has learnt that executives from companies including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest and Nationwide have been asked to attend a meeting with Ms Reeves on
Legal & General (L&G), the FTSE-100 insurance and asset management group, is preparing to kick off a search for a successor to chairman Sir John Kingman. Sky News has learnt that the company, which this week announced a major corporate deal in the US, is close to appointing headhunters to oversee the appointment process. City
Apple has reportedly been ordered by the UK government to allow it access to encrypted data stored by the company’s users worldwide in its cloud service. At the moment, only the Apple account holder can access such data – not even the US technology giant can see it. Apple, which makes iPhones, iPads and iMacs,
The government is spending £22bn on “unproven” technologies which will have a “very significant effect” on energy bills, according to an influential committee of MPs. There has been no assessment of whether the programme to capture and store carbon from the atmosphere is affordable for billpayers, said a report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)
The Bank of England has cut interest rates by another quarter percentage point, bringing down the cost of borrowing to 4.5%. And in a sign that households can expect more cuts in the months to come, two members of the Bank‘s Monetary Policy Committee said they would have preferred to reduce rates even more, by