Business

The former head of a union for sub-postmasters has denied it became “too close” to the Post Office and was “flush with money”. George Thomson, formerly of the National Federation of SubPostmasters (NFSP), also denied lacking sympathy for those who were wrongfully convicted during the Post Office scandal, which occurred following faults in the organisation’s

The roll-call of UK-listed companies to have attracted foreign takeover approaches this year is a long and distinguished one. It includes Anglo American, the mining giant; International Distribution Services, the parent of Royal Mail; Darktrace, one of the world’s most exciting cyber security specialists and DS Smith, the FTSE-100 packaging company which is Europe’s largest

Government borrowing was less than expected in May, new figures have revealed. Net borrowing – the difference between public sector spending and income – was £15bn, an increase of £0.8bn on the same time last year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on Friday. The amount is below the £15.7bn forecast by the Office

TikTok has launched a long-awaited legal fight to stop its Chinese owner being forced to sell the short video platform’s US operations, arguing it violates Americans’ rights to free speech. TikTok and Chinese parent ByteDance were told in April they had until January next year to divest TikTok in the US or face the prospect

Sainsbury’s has struck a deal to sell its banking business to NatWest. The agreement could see NatWest take on around one million customer accounts, as well as £1.4bn of unsecured personal loans, £1.1bn of credit card balances and £2.6bn of customer deposits. The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025.

Boeing should be fined almost $25bn and face criminal proceedings over two fatal 737 MAX 8 crashes, according to relatives of some of the 346 victims who argue the company is guilty of the “deadliest corporate crime in US history”. The plea was revealed in a letter to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), a

UK inflation has eased to 2% – increasing the prospect of an interest rate cut this summer. The consumer prices index (CPI) rate for the year to May was confirmed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday. The figure indicates that prices are still rising, but at the slowest pace since spring 2021.

There was “possibly a criminal conspiracy” at the Post Office, according to an independent forensic accountant drafted in to investigate the controversial Horizon accounting system. Ian Henderson, one of the two forensic accountants from Second Sight paid by Post Office (POL) to review sub-postmaster convictions involving Horizon in 2012, told the public inquiry into the

Grocery inflation has eased for the 16th month in a row, according to industry data released ahead of the general election also showing a price war aimed at luring fans during Euro 2024. Kantar Worldpanel – which tracks supermarket till prices, sales and market share – said its measure of grocery inflation slowed to 2.1%

China may target the European Union’s pork producers in retaliation for EU tariffs on its electric cars. The world’s second largest economy revealed on Monday that it had launched an investigation into imports of pork for human consumption from the bloc. The Commerce ministry inquiry was in response to a complaint by Chinese pork producers

Fuel retailers have been accused of using the “distraction” of the general election to keep petrol and diesel prices “persistently high”. The RAC said the cost of filling up at the pumps was “far higher” than would normally be expected as wholesale costs had fallen since the end of April. The average price of a

One of London’s most prominent venture capital investors will this week change its name following the death and resignation of its two co-founders. Sky News understands that Hambro Perks, which counts a stake in What3Words, the location-mapping service, among its holdings, is to rebrand as Salica Investments. An announcement about the change of name will

The founders of Melrose Industries, one of Britain’s most prolific and lucrative investment groups, are preparing to list a new vehicle in London next month as they hunt a new wave of takeover targets. Sky News has learnt that Simon Peckham is spearheading the launch of Rosebank Industries, with talks under way to raise more

Alan Bates, the campaigner who highlighted the Post Office scandal, will be given a knighthood after being recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours list. Other famous faces on the list include artist Tracey Emin and cyclist Mark Cavendish, who will be given a damehood and knighthood, respectively. Former prime minister Gordon Brown has received the

Latitude Festival has dropped its sponsor, Barclays, after a number of musicians and comedians dropped out in protest over the bank’s ties to the Israel-Hamas war. Latitude Festival told Sky News: “Following discussion with artists, we have agreed with Barclays that they will step back from sponsorship of Latitude Festival”. Comedians Joanne McNally, Sophie Duker,

Tesla shareholders have approved Elon Musk’s $56bn (£44bn) pay package. The proposal passed despite opposition from some large institutional investors and proxy firms. Onstage at the annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, the billionaire described himself as “pathologically optimistic”. “If I wasn’t optimistic this wouldn’t exist, this factory wouldn’t exist,” Musk said to resounding applause.

Demand in the housing market tailed off last month as hopes of a Bank of England rate cut faded, according to an industry report released just hours before a major housebuilder issued a profit warning. A monthly study by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) pointed to a drop in prices during May. At

Labour has promised its manifesto will have “wealth creation” at its heart, ahead of the document’s launch. Sir Keir Starmer will take to the stage in Manchester on Thursday in an effort to convince the public he has the right policies to earn the keys to Number 10. The Labour leader is expected to say

After a very strong start to 2024, during which the UK economy achieved its strongest growth for two years, things stalled again in April. That the economy flatlined during April was no surprise, though, given a couple of factors. One was the early timing of Easter, which will have led some consumer spending that would

The UK economy flatlined in April, according to early official figures that have been seized on by the government’s critics as evidence the Conservatives’ plan is not working. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there was zero growth in April compared to the 0.4% figure recorded during March. A Reuters news agency poll of