Business

Sajid Javid, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Greg Clark, Rishi Sunak, Grant Shapps and Kemi Badenoch: the list of Tory chancellors and business secretaries who have sought to unlock the puzzle of the British steel industry’s future in recent years is almost as long as the number of active production facilities remaining in Britain. And as the issue

Little has been heard from Mohamed Fayed during the last decade. He sold Harrods to Qatar Holdings as long ago as May 2010 and his other main trophy asset in the UK, Fulham FC, was offloaded to the US businessman Shahid Khan in July 2013. That latter deal brought down the curtain on a controversial

House prices fell by 5.3% in the year to August – a bigger-than-expected drop, according to Nationwide. The lender’s figures were released as interest rate hikes by the Bank of England to tackle inflation send mortgage payments higher – as well as rental costs. Additional housing bills are piling more misery on families at a

The owner of HMV is finalising a deal to rescue the majority of Wilko’s operations, salvaging more than 8,000 jobs at the stricken high street retailer. Sky News has learnt that Wilko’s administrators, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), began consulting the chain’s major creditors on Thursday on the terms of an agreement with Doug Putman. One source with

A bid to buy the entire Wilko business has fallen through, Sky News understands. Private equity firm M2 Capital had hoped to purchase the discount homeware chain and its 400 stores, but the deal is off following talks with administrators PwC. Job losses are now expected among Wilko’s head office, distribution and support centre staff.

Job losses at Wilko could be announced on Thursday after an offer to buy the entire business reportedly failed to “pass basic checks”, according to a union representing workers. The GMB said it had been told redundancy plans at the discount homeware chain, which were said to have been suspended earlier this week, could be

Mortgage approvals dropped almost 10% last month, new Bank of England figures show. The net decrease – from 54,600 in June to 49,400 in July – is a five-month low and worse than expected. A poll of economists predicted the figure would be around 51,000. It comes following a string of figures from lenders and

Redundancies among Wilko’s 12,500-strong workforce have been suspended while further bids for the collapsed retailer are considered, a union has said. The GMB said it had been assured by administrators PwC about the move during a meeting on Tuesday morning. The discount homeware goods company collapsed earlier this month after struggling from inflationary pressures, competition

The housing secretary Michael Gove is planning a major change to rules on waterway pollution in a bid to boost home building in England. The so-called “nutrient neutrality” rules have been criticised by developers and some Tory MPs for blocking much-needed housebuilding. The government hopes the move, which is coming in an amendment to the

The expansion of Sadiq Khan’s controversial ultra low emissions zone (ULEZ) will come into force on Tuesday despite facing a number of political hurdles. The zone – which charges motorists £12.50 a day if their car does not comply with emissions standards – will cover every London borough and not just the city centre, as

A trio of former Deliveroo executives have secured investment for a new property search engine start-up backed by a Google artificial intelligence fund. Sky News understands that Jitty will announce this week that it has raised $2m from investors led by Gradient Ventures, an AI fund established by the global technology behemoth. Jitty, which will

“When the time comes, disconnect the main flex cable.” Besides being a short guy named Tom, I never felt I had any sort of Mission: Impossible credentials until I donned safety googles and got handed a screwdriver and plastic scalpel at what’s thought to be the UK’s biggest phone recycling factory. Fixing the screen on

The owner of HMV has approached a number of debt providers to back a last-gasp rescue bid for Wilko, the ailing high street retailer. Sky News understands that Doug Putman has sounded out firms including Gordon Brothers and Hilco – from which he bought HMV in 2018 – about helping to finance an offer for

The former owners of The Daily Telegraph have lined up hundreds of millions of pounds from Middle Eastern investors in a bid to wrest back control of the newspaper from Britain’s biggest high street bank. Sky News can exclusively reveal that the Barclay family lodged a proposal last week to buy back roughly £1bn of

Rail services across England will be crippled today because of another strike in the deadlocked dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. Around 20,000 members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union at 14 train operators are expected to join the walk out. Trains will start later on Saturday and finish earlier and some areas

It was one of the most lucrative changes of career in business history. In 1964, Fred DeLuca was a 17-year-old medical student working in a hardware store to help pay his way through college. Realising he was not earning enough for his needs, he asked a family friend, Peter Buck, whether he had any bright

Household bills are dominating the headlines again after regulator Ofgem announced the latest energy price cap. Released quarterly, the cap limits what utility companies can charge customers for each unit of gas and electricity they use. The latest figure, £1,923, is how much the average household would typically use over a period of a year

A group of trading nations known as BRICS, which is hoping to rival the G7, is set to grow in size after inviting six new countries to join – including Iran and Saudi Arabia. BRICS – which has, until now, comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – announced the proposed expansion at

Fears for thousands of retail jobs at the ailing chain Wilko deepened on Wednesday evening when trade union officials warned that the majority of its shops were likely to close within days. Sky News has learnt that administrators at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) are in advanced talks to carve up parts of the 400-strong chain, with Poundland’s

Energy bills are to rise higher than last year for millions this winter, despite the energy price cap falling, a think tank has said. Withdrawn energy supports and a rise in the daily standing charge will mean winter bill costs going up for one in three English households, the Resolution Foundation said. That’s despite the