Business

Chocolate is among the products placing upwards pressure on grocery inflation in the run-up to Easter, according to closely-watched supermarket data. Kantar Worldpanel, which tracks pricing and market share, reported a further slowing in the pace of price growth across the sector over the four weeks to 17 March. It said the annual rate for

The London-listed leisure group Revolution Bars is plotting the closure of a quarter of its venues as it holds talks with investors about an emergency fundraising and puts itself up for sale. Sky News has learnt that Revolution, which owns Peach Pubs and the Revolucion de Cuba chain, is drawing up plans to axe roughly

Ofgem has launched a discussion on the energy price cap, floating options such as a cap based on things such as vulnerability and when energy is used. The price cap was introduced in January 2019 to prevent people on variable tariffs being ripped off. Initially it was changed a couple of times a year but

The owner’s of Gail’s, the chain of bakeries and coffee shops, are preparing to hire advisers for a sale that would value it at well over the £200m price tag at which it changed hands nearly three years ago. Sky News understands that Bain Capital Credit and EBITDA Investments, a fund backed by serial restaurant

Nadhim Zahawi, the former chancellor, is in talks about chairing the biggest remaining part of the Barclay family’s business empire, fuelling speculation that he will join a mass exodus of Conservative MPs at the general election. Sky News has learnt that Mr Zahawi, the MP for Stratford-on-Avon since 2010, is among the candidates to become

The owners of The Daily Telegraph have been dealt a fresh blow after the collapse of the parent company behind Arrow XL, a UK-wide delivery business. Sky News has learnt that Logistics Group Limited, which until recently also owned Yodel, fell into administration earlier on Friday. The decision is understood to have been orchestrated by

JD Wetherspoon hopes to soon open its 1,000th pub in the UK after reporting another leap in profits. The chain currently has more than 800 branches but says its “best estimate” is the potential for around 200 more in the coming years. It comes as the pub giant revealed that its pre-tax profits soared to

Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund has completed a deal to take full ownership of McLaren Group, one of the most revered names in British manufacturing, after years of negotiations to put the company on a stable long-term footing. Sky News understands that McLaren will announce later on Friday that the recapitalisation of the supercar manufacturer and

A new £24m border control post may have to be demolished because repeated changes to post-Brexit border arrangements have left it commercially unviable. The facility at Portsmouth International Port is due to begin physical checks on food and plant imports from the EU at the end of next month, but changes to border protocols since

A long-awaited report on how women born in the 1950s were affected by increases to their retirement age has recommended they are owed compensation. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman has been looking at potential injustices resulting from the decision to raise women’s retirement age to bring it into line with men’s. Women Against State

The Bank of England has held interest rates at 5.25% for a fifth consecutive time, but says the prospects for a cut are now “moving in the right direction”. The nine-member rate-setting committee continued to collectively judge it was too early to contemplate a downwards move, despite further progress in taming inflation revealed earlier this

Often when we talk about statistics like inflation they have a tendency to sound rather dry and boring. After all, data is an abstraction, an aggregation of numbers which often seems quite disconnected with our everyday lives. But prices are ultimately an incredibly important way of measuring what’s going on in the economy. They are

The rate of inflation slowed sharply to an annual rate of 3.4% in February, according to official figures. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed an easing from the 4% rate recorded the previous month. It marks further progress in the battle against energy-led price growth that followed Russia’s war in Ukraine and

Hundreds of high street jobs are at risk after Ted Baker’s British operations veered to the brink of administration. Sky News has learnt that No Ordinary Designer Label, which trades under the Ted Baker brand, filed a notice of intention to appoint Teneo Financial Advisory as administrators on Tuesday. The move is expected to result

Britain’s biggest high street lenders have pledged to upgrade dozens of shared banking hubs and commit to more than 100 new locations amid a growing political row over access to cash. Sky News has learnt that Bim Afolami, the City minister, convened a group of industry stakeholders and MPs on Monday to discuss urgent improvements

Britain’s car industry has insisted that an unprecedented 2,000% increase in vehicle exports to Azerbaijan has nothing to with Russia and is explained by the fact that the former Soviet state is a “flourishing market in its own right”. Sky analysis has found that the British car sector sent another £40m worth of cars to

Every household must be engaged by the government in the shift to clean heating as uptake of heat pumps to replace boilers is running at less than half of expected levels, the public spending watchdog has warned. A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) described assumptions on consumer demand for heat pumps, which use

Naked Wines, the London-listed online wine retailer, has drafted in debt advisers to explore refinancing options amid tough trading conditions. Sky News understands that Naked Wines has hired Interpath Advisory to work with it after seeing investor confidence in the company drain away in recent months. Shares in Naked Wines have slumped by almost a

Marks & Spencer (M&S) is nearing a deal with one of Britain’s biggest high street lenders to overhaul its banking arm as a financial services and loyalty ‘superapp’. Sky News has learnt that M&S and HSBC, whose UK arm owns M&S Bank, are close to announcing a new long-term relationship agreement that will pave the

Sainsbury’s has said it is suffering “technical issues affecting some stores” – impacting its ability to fulfil the “vast majority” of online deliveries today. The supermarket chain said it was “experiencing technical issues affecting some stores, our Groceries Online service and our ability to contact customers”. “Unfortunately, we will not be able to fulfil the