Business

Jeremy Hunt has held talks with the boss of Shein, the Chinese-founded fast fashion giant, in a bid to persuade the company to commit to what would be one of London’s biggest-ever corporate flotations. Sky News can exclusively reveal the chancellor met Donald Tang, Shein’s executive chairman, this month as part of British regulators’ and

The UK will “miss out” on economic growth unless it finally comes up with an industrial strategy to green the economy, the leading business group has warned. As the UK economy has stagnated in recent years, the value of green industries like renewables, eco-friendly heating and energy storage is growing and will help unlock further

Southern rail and Thameslink services suffered a “major signalling fault” – meaning delays are likely for some commuters. Around 4am on Monday morning both Southern rail and Thameslink warned their customers they had suffered a “major signalling fault” on their networks and “no trains” would be running until further notice. Passengers were warned “do not

The prime minister has revealed how some of the money from abandoning the HS2 northern leg will be reallocated. Northern England will get £2.5bn and the Midlands £2.2bn after plans to run the high-speed line to the North were scrapped last year. The cash will go to a “local transport fund” to help towns, rural

A former private secretary to Prince Andrew is playing a key role in the deliberations of a Chinese online retail giant over a possible bid for Currys, the high street electrical goods chain. Sky News has learnt that Amanda Thirsk, who quit as the Duke of York’s private secretary nearly four years ago, is working

Next has approached administrators to The Body Shop about a potential deal to purchase parts of the stricken cosmetics chain. Sky News has learnt that executives from the UK fashion retailing giant have contacted FRP Advisory to express an interest in acquiring assets as part of any sale process it decides to launch. There were

The worst airlines for customer satisfaction have been revealed The UK’s flag carrier airline, British Airways, ranked among the worst airlines in the survey. BA’s customer score for long-haul flights was the joint third lowest out of 17 carriers analysed by Which?, at 59%. The airline received just two stars out of five for boarding

As household energy bills are set to fall in April, Ian King talks to Sky’s business correspondent Paul Kelso. He also speaks to Bill Winters, the chief executive of Standard Chartered, about its $1bn share buyback. Erik Hirsch, co-chief executive of Hamilton Lane, a leading private markets investment firm, also joins Ian. Listen and subscribe

Paula Vennells, the former chief executive of the Post Office, has had her CBE formally stripped from her by the King for “bringing the honours system into disrepute”. Ms Vennells received the honour in 2019 but was widely criticised amid the fallout from the Post Office scandal. She had previously said she would give up

The boss of the Post Office wrote a letter to ministers saying he would stand by the prosecution of more than 350 of the sub-postmasters convicted in the Horizon scandal. Chief executive Nick Read sent the letter to Justice Secretary Alex Chalk last month, informing him that the Post Office would be “bound to oppose”

Overturning the convictions of guilty sub-postmasters to exonerate all those unfairly prosecuted due to the Horizon scandal is a “price worth paying”, according to the government. Under new legislation, the government says it will “quash all convictions which are identified as being in scope”. The Post Office minister says that possibly exonerating people guilty of

British companies are exporting hundreds of millions of pounds of equipment and machinery which almost certainly ends up in Russia, undermining the official sanctions regime and bolstering Vladimir Putin’s war machine, according to data analysis from Sky News. The items – which include drone equipment, optical supplies and heavy machinery – are being sent to

The owner of Brentford, the Premier League football club, has engaged advisers to canvas offers of investment that could value one of the sport’s biggest recent success stories at more than £400m. Sky News has learnt that Matthew Benham, who initially invested in the Bees in 2007, has hired Rothschild to oversee a process that

Petrochemicals billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has completed the purchase of a 27.7% stake in Manchester United through his INEOS conglomerate – enabling him to take control of football operations from the owning Glazer family.  The deal ends a protracted saga that has engulfed United for 15 months without the full sale fans had been demanding

The Body Shop has announced it is closing half of its stores in the UK – including seven today and cutting 40% of roles at its London-based head office. It comes after the embattled retailer entered administration last week, putting more than 2,000 jobs at risk. The Body Shop has roughly 200 outlets across the

Kemi Badenoch has said former Post Office chair Henry Staunton was being investigated over bullying allegations before his dismissal – as she accused him of seeking “revenge” against the government. The business secretary told the Commons that allegations regarding Mr Staunton’s conduct, including “serious matters such as bullying”, were being examined and concerns had also

A crackdown on so-called fire and rehire tactics by employers has been criticised as “tinkering around the edges” by the leader of the Trades Union Congress (TUC). Its general secretary spoke up as the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) confirmed the creation of a new statutory code covering the practice, also known as dismiss

A leading shareholder in Currys is demanding that its board slaps an £800m price tag on the electrical goods retailer amid takeover interest from a former backer of Comet, its defunct rival. Sky News has been told by one of the company’s largest investors that they believe Currys’ board should hold out for at least

Elliott Advisors, the owner of Waterstones, is plotting a £700m takeover of Currys, the London-listed electrical goods retailer. Sky News has learnt that Elliott, best-known for its activist sieges against the boards of some of the world’s largest companies, is working on a bid for one of Britain’s best-known high street names. This weekend, it

It’s a frosty morning on Kidsley Farm in Derbyshire, a rare thing in this unusually warm winter. Andrew Dakin’s beef herd is housed in the old brick barns, their breath steaming in the chill air. Alongside scuttling chickens and tractors of varying vintages, this is the very image of a traditional farmyard. But for how