Business

US interest rates have been slashed for the first time in more than four years – and by more than many expected – amid fears the world’s largest economy is flagging. Not since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic has there been a drop in the cost of US borrowing as the US central

Post Office chief executive Nick Read is to step down, the company has announced. Mr Read had temporarily stepped back from the role in July to prepare for the next stage of the Horizon scandal inquiry. Neil Brocklehurst, the current interim chief operating officer, has been asked to replace Mr Read as acting CEO. “It

A medical technology company which produces tissue-healing surgical products has become the latest London-listed business to draw interest from buyout firms. Sky News has learnt that Inflexion, the private equity group, has been studying a takeover of Advanced Medical Solutions Group (AMS Group), which has a market capitalisation of over £500m. On Tuesday evening, it

Guardian Media Group (GMG) is in talks to sell The Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper, to Tortoise Media, a start-up founded five years ago by a former BBC and Times executive. Sky News can exclusively reveal that GMG was in the process of informing staff on The Observer on Tuesday that it is in

A former Treasury official is leading the race to become the next chairman of Lloyd’s of London, one of the City’s most prestigious posts. Sky News has learnt that Sir Charles Roxburgh is the frontrunner to replace Bruce Carnegie-Brown in the role. City sources said a process in which other candidates were being considered was

The iconic Belfast company that built the Titanic is to collapse into administration. Harland & Wolff has announced it is insolvent and will appoint administrators. An administration order will likely be made this week, it added. Jobs are likely to be lost, the company said, but it did not detail how many. “Workers, their families

A momentous court battle over the fate of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire gets under way in Nevada today. At stake is the future of a string of newspapers and television channels consumed by millions of people around the world, as well as thousands of jobs – and billions of pounds. The media mogul, who turned

Legal & General, the FTSE-100 insurance and asset management giant, will this week pick a new home for Cala Group, its housebuilding subsidiary. Sky News has learnt that Sixth Street, the US-based investor, has emerged as the frontrunner to buy Cala, which ranks among Britain’s ten biggest housebuilders. Sixth Street has teamed up with Patron

Babcock International, the London-listed defence contractor, is weighing a possible bid for some of the assets of Harland and Wolff, the shipbuilder which is close to collapse. Sky News has learnt that Babcock, which has a market value of £2.4bn, has expressed an interest in Harland and Wolff’s Belfast shipyard which is famous for having

A London-listed automotive components supplier has become the latest British-based company to draw overseas takeover interest after receiving a series of offers from a Canadian rival. Sky News has learnt that TI Fluid Systems has received at least two bid proposals from ABC Technologies Holdings, a Canadian competitor. City sources said on Friday evening that

Two of Britain’s biggest newspaper publishers are taking the axe to their US workforces, slashing scores of jobs in the latest evidence of mounting financial pressures across the media sector. Sky News has learnt that News UK, the publisher of The Sun, and DMGT, owner of the Daily Mail, have this week announced sweeping internal

Tens of millions of mobile phone users could end up paying more if the merger between Vodafone and Three goes ahead, the competition watchdog has warned. The deal would create the UK’s biggest mobile network and could also improve network quality, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said. A better network? But claims of providing

The billionaire founder of Revolut has sold shares worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the banking and finance app as he climbs the ranks of Europe’s wealthiest people. Sky News has learnt that Nik Storonsky, the company’s chief executive, sold between 40% and 60% of the stock that was offloaded by employees in a

The gap between how much money the state takes in and its spending will triple in the next 50 years, according to independent forecasters. Public debt will rise due to an ageing and ill population as well as climate change, the fiscal watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has said. The ratio between debt

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has signalled her first budget as chancellor could be a painful mix of spending cuts, tax rises and increased borrowing. Speaking to Sky News after official figures showed the economy flatlined in July with GDP growth of 0.0%, she refused to rule out increasing business and wealth taxes, or further cuts to

The chancellor has defended the government’s £500m steel industry subsidy, with thousands of jobs set to be lost at Britain’s biggest steelworks. When asked why the government is spending money on jobs that are going to be scrapped, Rachel Reeves said the steel industry was “incredibly important” to the UK economy. The government, Ms Reeves

A slump in oil prices could lead to further reductions at the fuel pumps but any benefit risks being stripped away next month as the chancellor seeks ways to bolster the public finances. A barrel of Brent crude, the international benchmark, slipped below $70 for the first time since December 2021 on Tuesday afternoon. The

A victim of the Post Office Horizon scandal has told Sky News that plans for a new appeals process are “unacceptable” on several fronts. Chris Head, once the youngest sub-postmaster in the UK but who lost everything when he was wrongly accused of theft, spoke out after the business secretary Jonathan Reynolds told MPs the

The state pension is due to rise by 4% in April, giving an extra £460 a year to recipients. The payment increases by the highest of total average weekly earnings, inflation for September or 2.5%. Figures on Tuesday showed average weekly earnings rose by 4% in the three months to July. Inflation data for September

Ministers are racing to finalise a £1.25bn deal with Tata Steel, the owner of Britain’s biggest steelworks, amid fading hopes of a similarly consensual agreement with the industry’s second-largest player. Sky News understands that Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, wants to make a statement to parliament on Wednesday about the Tata Steel deal after Prime