Business

Some of Britain’s biggest commercial property-owners are joining forces in a bid to thwart a plot to slash rents at dozens of Fitness First health clubs. Sky News has learnt that landlords including The Crown Estate, M&G Real Estate and Land Securities are preparing to challenge a restructuring plan that is due to be heard

The owner of British Gas is facing criticism from a leading City investor over the multimillion pound pay package handed to its chief executive after persistent criticism of windfall gains triggered by share price collapses during the pandemic. Sky News can reveal that abrdn, one of the London stock market’s most influential institutional shareholders, will

House prices fell by 3.4% year-on-year in May, according to one of the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders. Data from Nationwide building society also showed a month-on-month decline of 0.1%, with the average cost of a UK home now said to be £260,736. The building society had said there were tentative signs of a recovery in the

CBI members are to begin voting today on the future of the business lobby group, following a series of scandals. The organisation was plunged into disarray after claims of serious sexual assault were made by CBI employees against colleagues. Today it will launch what it describes as an “ambitious ‘programme of change'”, with adjustments to

The fat from dead pigs and cows is increasingly being used to power planes and cars as a greener alternative, which could end up being even worse for the environment than traditional jet fuel, new research has warned. The use of animal fat in biodiesel has increased by forty times since 2006, and demand is

Having made tackling inflation a key policy aim, ministers are under pressure to get a grip on food prices, which are still rising at a robust pace. Among the proposals being considered is a cap on the price of basic food items. The British government is not the first to weigh up such a policy.

Asda Group has said it will acquire petrol station operator EG Group’s UK and Ireland business, creating a company with combined revenues of nearly £30bn. The news confirms a report by Sky News City editor Mark Kleinman last week, which said the “finishing touches” were being put on the deal. Asda is the UK’s third-largest

HSBC will next month unveil a new name for the technology-focused bank it rescued earlier this year after its US parent collapsed. Sky News has learned that Europe’s biggest lender intends to rebrand Silicon Valley Bank UK (SVBUK) under the name HSBC Innovation Banking. The new identity is expected to be announced to coincide with

The Ineos billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe remains the leading candidate to buy Manchester United Football Club despite an inconclusive board meeting held late last week. Sky News understands that directors of the Premier League club’s holding company met on Thursday to discuss the progress of its £5bn-plus auction. Controlled by members of the Glazer family

Plans to encourage supermarkets to introduce voluntary price caps on food staples in a bid to help with the cost of living crisis are being drawn up by Downing Street, according to reports. The scheme would aim to get retailers charging the lowest possible amount for some basic products like milk and bread, the Sunday Telegraph reported. A

The executive who presided over a bitter “cruises and cufflinks” row at one of Britain’s biggest wealth managers is preparing to step down. Sky News has learnt that St James’s Place, the FTSE-100 group which oversees more than £150bn of client assets, has kicked off a search to replace Andrew Croft. City sources said on

Ian King hears from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who says the government will do whatever it takes to bring down inflation, even if that means a recession. He also speaks to Nick Harding, the chief executive of consumer lender Fluro as analysis by PwC shows total household debt in the UK has exceeded 2 trillion pounds

The government finds its hands somewhat tied at present on measures it can take to boost economic growth. The parlous state of public finances – the government borrowed £25bn alone in April – means that neither meaningful tax cuts nor increases in public spending that lift productivity are feasible just now. So it is no

Britain’s largest building society has made some mortgages more expensive as the Bank of England’s interest rate is now expected to rise higher than previously thought. Nationwide has said interest rates on new fixed-rate mortgages will rise 0.45 percentage points. It follows moves by lenders such as Halifax, Santander and Atom Bank who also upped

British Airways cancelled dozens of flights in and out of Heathrow Airport on Thursday evening because of a “technical issue”, leaving thousands of passengers grounded. Just before 9pm, the London airport’s live departures and arrivals site showed 79 services had been axed. This was despite the airline saying the problems had been resolved as they

The owners of Asda and petrol stations giant EG Group were on Thursday applying the finishing touches to a £10bn merger of their operations in Britain. Sky News has learnt that the billionaire Issa brothers – Mohsin and Zuber, who launched EG Group – and TDR Capital are aiming to announce the tie-up on Friday.

The energy price cap on household bills has fallen to an annual average of £2,074 between July and September, removing some of the financial pain inflicted by the unprecedented surge in gas and electricity costs. Industry regulator Ofgem made the announcement against a backdrop of good news for the cost of living crisis – with

Microsoft will on Wednesday lodge a formal appeal against British regulators’ decision to block its $75bn takeover of Activision Blizzard, the Call of Duty maker. Sky News understands that the technology behemoth will file its complaint with the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) within hours, sparking the next phase of its fight to secure one of

Netflix has expanded its crackdown on password sharing, telling users worldwide their accounts cannot be shared for free outside their households. The streaming service has been looking for new revenue streams amid fears of market saturation, with efforts including limits on password borrowing and a new advert-supported option. On Tuesday, the company said it was

Britain is no longer expected to suffer a recession this year, nor will it have the weakest economic growth in the group of seven leading industrialised economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said today. Unveiling a dramatic upgrade to its outlook for Britain, the Fund, which previously predicted Britain would face the worst 2023 of