Business

The owner of Superdry’s flagship store in central London is weighing a challenge to a rescue plan that would impose steep haircuts on the struggling chain’s landlords. Sky News has learnt that M&G, the London-listed asset manager, has engaged lawyers from Hogan Lovells to scrutinise a restructuring plan launched by Superdry earlier this month. The

NatWest Group has become the latest UK banking giant to report a sharp drop in earnings for the first three months of the year. The lender said pre-tax profits in the first quarter of 2024 were £1.3bn – a fall of nearly 28% on the same period a year ago. However, the figure was better

The extraordinary, unprecedented and largely unexplained flows of millions of pounds of British luxury cars into states neighbouring Russia continued in February, according to new official data. Some £26m worth of British cars were exported to Azerbaijan in February, according to data from HM Revenue & Customs. The numbers show that in the latest quarter

A former top Post Office executive has told the inquiry into the Horizon scandal that she never “knowingly” did anything wrong. Angela van den Bogerd, who held various roles over 35 years at the organisation, made the comment after opening her evidence on Thursday by saying she was “truly, truly sorry” for the “devastation” caused

Shares in Meta, the owner of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, have fallen sharply after the company revealed it had raised its cost forecast for the current year. Investors sent the stock 10% lower in after-hours trading in New York when Meta‘s first quarter results showed further bills were expected to fund new artificial intelligence (AI)

Shipping traffic through the vital Suez Canal artery has plunged by 66% since cargo was forced to divert due to attacks on vessels, according to official figures. The data, from the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS), covered the period from mid-December to the beginning of April. It is important as it represents the scale

The post office scandal extends “greatly beyond” faulty Horizon software, according to a lawyer for victims. Paul Marshall, representing former sub-postmasters, says problems with third party systems in branches, such as ATMs, have been “overlooked”. A 2013 report commissioned by the Post Office, and not made public at the time, states: “Removing the ATM reduces

A former HR director at the Post Office, whose misconduct claims against chief executive Nick Read were dismissed following an internal investigation, has written to MPs in a bid to plead her case. Jane Davies, who was in post for seven months from December 2022 until she was dismissed, claimed Mr Read led a “deliberate

The FTSE 100 has ended a long wait to achieve a new record high. The index, which comprises the 100 most valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange, closed Monday’s session on 8,023 points following a jump of 128 points or 1.6%. That was the highest closing sum since February last year when the 8,000

The UK’s biggest water company has put forward an investment offer that could increase customer bills even more than the 40% rise it already requested. Thames Water, which serves 16 million customers in the south of England, has proposed increasing spending by £1.1bn and revealed another potential £1.9bn investment in its network as part of

A pack of private equity investors have left the starting grid in a race to buy TeamSport, the pan-European go-karting operator. Sky News has learnt that several buyout firms have tabled initial offers for the company, which is expected to fetch more than £150m. Insiders said on Sunday that EMK Capital and Livingbridge were among

The private equity titan Blackstone is this weekend drawing up plans for a £1.2bn takeover bid for the owner of songs performed by Blondie, the Kaiser Chiefs and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Sky News can exclusively reveal that Blackstone has already tabled several offers to buy Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF), the London-listed music rights

Bitcoin’s rare halving event has taken place, according to crypto analysis firm CoinGecko. It slashes the number of new Bitcoin entering the market by cutting the rewards earned by Bitcoin miners by 50%. Taking place roughly every four years, it’s designed to cap supply at 21 million by 2140. It means just 450 Bitcoin will

A “shoplifters’ charter” has seen thefts rise significantly – to about one offence every minute – but police are charging fewer people, according to Labour. The party said data showed a record 402,482 shoplifting offences in England and Wales in the year to September 2023. However, offences resulting in a police charge fell from 20%

Pension funds are braced for a hit worth tens of billions of pounds as Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, tries to salvage his ambition of overhauling Britain’s centuries-old property leasehold system. Sky News has learnt that the insurance and pensions industries believe that Mr Gove’s now-favoured option of imposing a £250 cap on ground

Getir, the grocery delivery app once valued at nearly $12bn (£9.7bn), is close to pulling the plug on its operations in Britain in a move that would spark concerns for well over 1,000 jobs. Sky News has learnt that Getir is preparing to announce next week that it is withdrawing from the three remaining European

Ministers are to kick off a search for the inaugural chair of the new football watchdog, even as it faces growing hints of opposition to its establishment from the Premier League. Sky News has learnt that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) will launch the appointment process for the role at the Independent

Crisis-hit Boeing has rushed to defend itself from fresh whistleblower allegations of poor practice, as the airline continues to grapple its latest safety crisis. A Congressional investigation heard evidence on Wednesday on the safety culture and manufacturing standards at the company – rocked in January by a mid-air scare that saw an Alaska Airlines 737

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said that “better times are ahead” but that the fundamentals of the UK economy are “very strong”. Speaking to Sky News in Washington, Mr Hunt pointed to price rise data from today showing a drop in the rate of inflation as well as the latest jobs figures and IMF economic growth

The Post Office’s chief executive has been “exonerated of all misconduct allegations” following an investigation into bullying allegations. The organisation said Nick Read would continue to lead it following the independent review. Allegations about his behaviour emerged earlier this year when Henry Staunton, the former Post Office chairman, told a House of Commons select committee