Business

The cost of bread, biscuits and beer could increase this year due to the impact of the unusually wet autumn and winter on UK harvests. Research suggests that production of wheat, oats, barley and oilseed rape could drop by four million tonnes (17.5%) compared with 2023. The wet weather has resulted in lower levels of

Blackstone, the American private equity behemoth, is this weekend finalising a revised offer to buy the company which owns the music catalogues of Shakira and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Sky News has learnt that Blackstone is preparing to lodge an improved bid for Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF) as early as Monday. Its offer will

Jeremy Hunt is convening a summit aimed at enticing more companies to London’s stock market amid an accelerating exodus of businesses being picked off by overseas and financial predators. Sky News has learnt that the Treasury has invited the bosses of some of Britain’s most prominent private companies to attend a meeting next month at

The owner of Superdry’s flagship store in central London is weighing a challenge to a rescue plan that would impose steep haircuts on the struggling chain’s landlords. Sky News has learnt that M&G, the London-listed asset manager, has engaged lawyers from Hogan Lovells to scrutinise a restructuring plan launched by Superdry earlier this month. The

NatWest Group has become the latest UK banking giant to report a sharp drop in earnings for the first three months of the year. The lender said pre-tax profits in the first quarter of 2024 were £1.3bn – a fall of nearly 28% on the same period a year ago. However, the figure was better

There’s a trade war brewing between China and the West, at stake is who will dominate the global market for electric vehicles. Outside the port city of Ningbo, Chinese car company Zeekr is rolling out luxury EVs and growing fast. The factory has only been up and running for three years, but this year it’s

The extraordinary, unprecedented and largely unexplained flows of millions of pounds of British luxury cars into states neighbouring Russia continued in February, according to new official data. Some £26m worth of British cars were exported to Azerbaijan in February, according to data from HM Revenue & Customs. The numbers show that in the latest quarter

A former top Post Office executive has told the inquiry into the Horizon scandal that she never “knowingly” did anything wrong. Angela van den Bogerd, who held various roles over 35 years at the organisation, made the comment after opening her evidence on Thursday by saying she was “truly, truly sorry” for the “devastation” caused

Sainsbury’s has claimed it is winning over customers from its rivals after reporting higher than expected profits. The country’s second-largest supermarket chain announced on Thursday its underlying pre-tax profits were £701m for the 2022/23 financial year. The figure is up 1.6% on the previous year’s haul of £690m – and ahead of company forecasts that

Shipping traffic through the vital Suez Canal artery has plunged by 66% since cargo was forced to divert due to attacks on vessels, according to official figures. The data, from the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS), covered the period from mid-December to the beginning of April. It is important as it represents the scale

The post office scandal extends “greatly beyond” faulty Horizon software, according to a lawyer for victims. Paul Marshall, representing former sub-postmasters, says problems with third party systems in branches, such as ATMs, have been “overlooked”. A 2013 report commissioned by the Post Office, and not made public at the time, states: “Removing the ATM reduces

A former HR director at the Post Office, whose misconduct claims against chief executive Nick Read were dismissed following an internal investigation, has written to MPs in a bid to plead her case. Jane Davies, who was in post for seven months from December 2022 until she was dismissed, claimed Mr Read led a “deliberate

Doubts have been raised over the government’s ability to unveil tax cuts ahead of the next general election after official figures revealed borrowing was higher than expected in the past year. The Treasury borrowed £120.7bn in the financial year ending March 2024 – down £7.6bn from the year before, according to provisional estimates from the

The FTSE 100 has ended a long wait to achieve a new record high. The index, which comprises the 100 most valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange, closed Monday’s session on 8,023 points following a jump of 128 points or 1.6%. That was the highest closing sum since February last year when the 8,000

A pack of private equity investors have left the starting grid in a race to buy TeamSport, the pan-European go-karting operator. Sky News has learnt that several buyout firms have tabled initial offers for the company, which is expected to fetch more than £150m. Insiders said on Sunday that EMK Capital and Livingbridge were among

Liz Truss has acknowledged she and her government lost the confidence of financial markets following the mini-budget of October 2022 – but has refused to apologise to homeowners for higher interest rates. Talking to Sky News, the former prime minister blamed her downfall on the Bank of England, primarily governor Andrew Bailey. However, she said

The private equity titan Blackstone is this weekend drawing up plans for a £1.2bn takeover bid for the owner of songs performed by Blondie, the Kaiser Chiefs and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Sky News can exclusively reveal that Blackstone has already tabled several offers to buy Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF), the London-listed music rights

Bitcoin’s rare halving event has taken place, according to crypto analysis firm CoinGecko. It slashes the number of new Bitcoin entering the market by cutting the rewards earned by Bitcoin miners by 50%. Taking place roughly every four years, it’s designed to cap supply at 21 million by 2140. It means just 450 Bitcoin will

Pension funds are braced for a hit worth tens of billions of pounds as Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, tries to salvage his ambition of overhauling Britain’s centuries-old property leasehold system. Sky News has learnt that the insurance and pensions industries believe that Mr Gove’s now-favoured option of imposing a £250 cap on ground

Getir, the grocery delivery app once valued at nearly $12bn (£9.7bn), is close to pulling the plug on its operations in Britain in a move that would spark concerns for well over 1,000 jobs. Sky News has learnt that Getir is preparing to announce next week that it is withdrawing from the three remaining European