Business

Thousands of jobs are at risk after Ocado announced plans to close its oldest distribution centre. The online grocer says it will close its site in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, later this year. The warehouse handles around a fifth of its customer orders each week and these will instead be shifted to a new state-of-the-art automated warehouse

The president of the CBI has admitted he does not know if it can win back trust while setting out how it plans to bolster its culture amid the sexual misconduct scandal engulfing the business lobby group. Brian McBride made his remark in an open letter to members that set out its response to the

The average price of a home coming to market this month rose by just 0.2% to £366,247, according to data from Rightmove. This was lower than the average increase of 1.2% for this time of year. It showed that many new sellers are “taking note of the economic headwinds and the transitioning of the housing

A former chief executive of Asda has sealed a rescue deal for an online butcher which counts Fortnum & Mason and Harrods among its customers. Sky News understands that Andy Clarke, who left the supermarket giant in 2016, has agreed a transaction to buy Farmison & Co, which collapsed into administration earlier this month. Mr

Some of Britain’s biggest companies are this weekend scrambling to fill the void left by the crisis at the CBI as they consider backing a new body being set up after talks with Conservative and Labour officials. Sky News has learnt that businesses from across a range of sectors including banking, insurance, retail and telecoms

A British company believes sewage could provide the solution to the UK’s salad supply shortages as a huge rise in wholesale gas prises has impacted growers. Oasthouse Ventures has huge greenhouses in Bury St Edmunds and Norwich which extract heat from the sewage at local treatment works, transferring it to heat pumps at their sites.

A flood of companies announced they were either leaving the CBI or suspending their membership after a series of allegations of sexual misconduct against staff. The rush for the exit door came after the Guardian newspaper reported that a second woman had made a rape allegation – against two male CBI co-workers. Here are some

If one were to compile a list of some of the most prestigious blue-chip UK employers, it would probably include NatWest, BP, Shell, Aviva, the John Lewis Partnership, Virgin Media O2, WPP, Phoenix Group, BT, PwC, EY, Schroders and AstraZeneca. Were that list to be enhanced with prestigious foreign-owned businesses that are major employers in

The president of the CBI is facing fresh embarrassment as a company of which he is a director weighs bringing its membership of the scandal-hit business lobby group to an end. Sky News has learnt that abrdn, the FTSE 100 fund manager, has been debating whether to terminate its status as a CBI member once

The scandal-hit CBI, Britain’s biggest employers’ group, says it has passed fresh information to the police relating to a report of a “serious criminal offence”. The body said it was “liaising closely” with officers as it remains mired by allegations of historic workplace misconduct. They culminated in chief executive Tony Danker being sacked earlier this

Interest in new electric vehicles may be declining, data from the UK’s largest car sales website suggests. The volume of new electric car searches, ad views and messages to retailers on the Auto Trader platform was down nearly two thirds (65%) from the beginning of last year to March this year. Auto Trader has attributed

About 1,400 security officers at Heathrow Airport will strike for eight days next month. Unite said the staff will walk out from 4 to 6 May, 9 to 10 May and 25 to 27 May in a dispute over pay – causing “inevitable disruption and delays” to passengers arriving for the King’s coronation. The union’s

The recently sacked boss of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) says his “reputation has been totally destroyed” following misconduct allegations. Tony Danker was sacked on 11 April – and three other employees suspended – by the business group after police launched an investigation into the allegations. The board of the CBI said Mr Danker’s

A former employee of a “sensitive government organisation” has appeared in court after allegedly risking national security by taking top secret data home. Hasaan Arshad is charged with an offence under the Computer Misuse Act after an investigation led by the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command. He spoke at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, only to

The UK’s unemployment rate ticked up to 3.8% in the three months to February, according to official figures that also highlighted a faster than expected spike in wage rises. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the jobless rate rose from 3.7% due to a surge in the number of people unemployed for more than

Sega Sammy, the gaming firm behind Sonic the Hedgehog, has agreed a deal to buy rival Rovio Entertainment – best known for Angry Birds. The pair confirmed that the Japanese firm would pay €706m (£625m) for Rovio just days after takeover talks were revealed. The acquisition comes as Sega seeks to accelerate its growth in

Air France and Airbus have been found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter over the crash of Flight 447 in 2009 that killed 228 people. The Airbus A330 was travelling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris when it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean during a thunderstorm in June 2009, killing people from 33 countries. Both Air

Barclays is joining the ranks of global investment banks taking the axe to jobs amid a slowdown in dealmaking and stock market flotations. Sky News has learnt that the British lender will this week cut more than 100 roles in its investment bank, with sources saying the layoffs would not be confined to a single

Spotify has announced it is dropping Heardle – the name-that-tune game inspired by Wordle. The streaming giant had acquired the game last July, five months after it took the world by storm. Heardle played small snippets of music and challenged gamers to guess the song as quickly as possible. But in a new statement, Spotify

Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have reached an agreement in principle amid a long-running dispute over pay and employment terms. In a joint statement with Royal Mail, CWU confirmed the agreement will now be considered by the executive of the union before it goes before the membership. The details of the proposed