Business

The headquarters of Toyota Motor has been visited in Japan as part of an investigation into official safety certifications that is affecting models across five major carmakers in the country. Hours after Toyota’s embattled chairman issued an apology for cheating tests on seven models, officials from Japan’s transport ministry descended on the offices in Toyota

The stock market influencer behind the so-called meme stock frenzy of 2021 has triggered a fresh surge in shares of GameStop, the struggling US videogame retailer. Keith Gill, who goes by the name Roaring Kitty online, revealed a $116m (£90.8m) position in GameStop on Sunday. Gill told his followers he controlled 1.8% of GameStop’s available

Wholesale costs for natural gas have hit their highest levels across Europe since December last year after key Norwegian export operations were shut down due to a cracked pipe. The damage, discovered aboard the Sleipner Riser platform, prompted wider energy infrastructure to be halted including the Nyhamna processing plant which exports gas to the UK,

Shein, the online fashion behemoth, is on the verge of taking a huge stride towards a London flotation that would value it at about £50bn and rank among the most significant – and contentious – deals in the UK’s capital markets for years. Sky News can exclusively reveal that Shein, which was founded in China

Britain’s biggest water company has been told it faces a fine of more than £40m over the payment of a shareholder dividend in spite of its poor performance. Sky News has learnt that Ofwat notified Thames Water last month that it was minded to impose the penalty for breaching rules on the payment of dividends.

Spending a fair chunk on going to see your favourite big artist is not new – but it certainly feels like concert prices have entered a new stratosphere. Fans of Bruce Springsteen have paid upwards of £120 for “rear pitch” standing tickets for his May 2024 tour, while some expressed disappointment recently over the £145

Superdry, the struggling London-listed fashion chain, has received a reprieve after the owner of its flagship store towed back from a challenge to its rescue plan. Sky News understands that M&G, the asset manager which had been contemplating a formal objection to Superdry’s restructuring plan, has decided not to proceed with the move. M&G owns

Life comes at you fast if you are the person responsible for maintaining the shareholder register at NatWest. Until last week, it was hoped that the bank would be at the centre of Jeremy Hunt‘s plans to get millions more Britons investing in the stock market. Money latest: Income growth ‘worst in generations’ The chancellor

The housing market is showing signs of “resilience” with prices rising slightly, according to new figures from the UK’s largest building society. Nationwide said house prices were up 0.4% in May, compared to April. It said the average cost of a home was now £264,249 – with year-on-year prices also increasing by 1.3%. The figures

The establishment of Great British Energy is among the last remnants of the ‘green prosperity plan’ devised and championed by Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary of state for energy security and net zero, three years ago. The former Labour leader’s vision was to spend £28bn per year in the first five years of an incoming

Dr Martens has reported another sharp fall in profits following a “challenging year” for the business. The struggling company said global pre-tax profits in the 12 months to March were £97m – a fall of almost 43% on the previous year. Revenue also dipped 12% to £877m – down from just over £1bn in 2022/23.

Daniel Kretinsky is on the cusp of becoming the new man in charge of the Royal Mail. The board of its parent company, International Distribution Services (IDS), announced on Wednesday it had agreed to a takeover by Mr Kretinsky’s EP Group, which has valued the firm at £5.3bn. The deal must first be approved by

The owners of Royal Mail have agreed to a £3.6bn takeover bid by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. The company’s parent firm International Distribution Services (IDS) said its board of directors had approved the deal after a formal offer was made earlier this month. Mr Kretinsky’s EP Group already owns 27.6% of the business. Shareholders will

Rishi Sunak’s committee of business advisers refused to publicly back the government’s economic policy record on Tuesday amid an escalating row over Labour’s efforts to steal the Conservative Party’s traditional mantle as ‘the party of business’. Sky News contacted all 15 of the companies represented on the prime minister’s business council to see whether their

The rate of price rises in UK shops has returned to “normal levels”, according to new industry figures. Overall annual shop price inflation eased to 0.6% in May, down from 0.8% in April, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and NielsenIQ said. The figure is the lowest since November 2021. Please use Chrome browser for a

Rishi Sunak will meet leading Conservative Party donors on Monday evening as he seeks to mobilise financial support for the surprisingly timed general election campaign he triggered last week. Sky News understands that the prime minister will have dinner with a small group of long-standing and more recent donors as the Tories target millions of

An Indian pharmaceutical group is closing in on a deal to snap up Nicotinell, the anti-smoking aid, from Haleon, its FTSE-100 parent company. Sky News has learnt that Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories could be within days of acquiring the brand and a number of lesser-known European products from Haleon. Sources said a deal was likely

One of Britain’s biggest housebuilders is exploring a £1bn takeover bid for Cala Group, a rival player in the sector which has been put up for sale. Sky News has learned that Persimmon, which has a market value of £4.74bn, is leaning towards submitting an offer for Cala ahead of a bid deadline next week.

In the 15-year scandal of the Post Office, this may be remembered as the day that hundreds of sub-postmasters, subject to the greatest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, were finally heard. In Westminster, the Post Office Offences Act was being rushed through parliament, included in the ‘wash-up’ triggered by the general election. Come

Pocket money is in decline, data shows – but kids are finding new ways to pay for their everyday “essentials”. Data from the NatWest pocket money index (looking at transactions from 308,000 children in the Rooster app), shared with our Money blog, shows only 30% of families now pay pocket money as part of a