Business

Mulberry, the struggling UK luxury brand, has rejected a proposed takeover bid by Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group. Frasers, which is majority owned by the tycoon and best-known for its Sports Direct brand, made an offer on Monday that valued Mulberry at £83m. The company is the second largest shareholder in Mulberry, with a 37% holding.

A lawyer representing people affected by a “second Post Office IT scandal” has said they “must not” have “a long, hard battle ahead for exoneration and compensation”. A report today found it is “a reasonable likelihood” that Capture software “created shortfalls” for sub-postmasters prior to the Horizon scandal. The system, which was the predecessor to

Mike Ashley’s sprawling retail empire Frasers Group has revealed a takeover bid for Mulberry, the struggling luxury brand, claiming it wants to save the company from a potential Debenhams-style collapse. Frasers, which already owns 37% of Mulberry’s shares, said it had made a non-binding approach for the stock it does not already hold. Its 130p-per-share

The UK’s biggest steelworks will cease production today after more than 100 years, leading to thousands of job losses across South Wales. Blast Furnace 4 – the final furnace operating at Tata Steel’s plant in Port Talbot – will be fully shut down at about 5pm, with the last steel made late on Monday evening.

Ordinary investors will be given the chance to participate in a £500m flotation of Applied Nutrition, the fast-growing sports supplements maker, when it unveils plans for an initial public offering in London this week. Sky News has learnt that Liverpool-based Applied Nutrition will issue an announcement signalling its expected intention to float on Monday morning,

Carlyle, the American investment giant, has become the latest global fund to weigh an investment in Thames Water as the stricken utility races to avoid being nationalised. Sky News has learnt that Carlyle, which has roughly $435bn in assets under management, is at the very preliminary stages of assessing whether an investment in Thames Water

A former owner of Missguided, the youth fashion brand, is in talks to buy Kurt Geiger, the upmarket shoe and accessories retailer. Sky News has learnt that Alteri Investors, which was backed by the global private equity giant Apollo Management when it launched a decade ago, is among a number of parties in discussions about

The private equity giant which owns a stake in rugby’s Six Nations Championship is weighing a bid for a stake in one of Britain’s biggest online travel agents. Sky News has learnt that CVC Capital Partners is among the suitors considering making an offer to become a partial owner of Loveholidays. The travel company, which

One of the UK’s largest water companies is considering shipping supplies from Norway to the UK. Southern Water said the idea was a “last-resort contingency measure” in case of extreme droughts in the early 2030s. Up to 45 million litres per day could be brought to the UK in tankers under the proposals. The Financial

Boeing and union negotiators will meet later in a fresh bid to end strikes by workers that have hammered plane production, exacerbating the fallout from the company’s safety crisis. The company, which is bidding to revive its fortunes under a new chief executive, has more than 32,000 staff refusing to work. They walked out of

The fallout from parasite-contaminated water in part of Devon cost South West Water £16m, the utility has revealed. It had to implement a boil water notice when people in the Brixham area became sick after diarrhoea-causing cryptosporidium was found in a reservoir in May. The notice remained in place for eight weeks with roughly 17,000

Post Office campaigner Sir Alan Bates has threatened legal action if financial redress for victims doesn’t come soon. Sir Alan, speaking after accepting a knighthood for services to justice, told Sky News: “If we need to fundraise for a court case, we will.” In a letter sent to hundreds of former sub postmasters last week,

The UK remains at risk from “lingering” inflation but its economy is among nations showing “robust” growth, according to a biannual report which upgrades its expectations for output both this year and next. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) saw UK gross domestic product (GDP) rising by 1.1% this year – faster than

A Fujitsu boss has told the Horizon IT inquiry he raised “serious concerns” about the “behaviour” of the Post Office investigations team earlier this year. More than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted and received criminal convictions between 1999 and 2015, as Fujitsu’s faulty Horizon IT system made it appear as though money was missing at

The Caucasus Mountain range in Georgia is one of the great sights in the south of Europe. Towering peaks, higher than any in the Alps, rise up from green meadows and grassy hills covered in wildflowers. Winding roads thread through deep valleys, overlooked by ornate Orthodox churches and monasteries. But when I visited recently, I

The owners of some of London’s most prominent restaurants are in talks to buy the UK operations of TGI Fridays, the casual dining chain whose parent company collapsed into administration last week. Sky News has learnt that Breal Capital and Calveton, which acquired D&D London – owner of the German Gymnasium and Quaglino’s restaurants –

Most sub-postmasters are still reporting issues with the Horizon IT system that led to hundreds being wrongly convicted, a survey suggests. The inquiry into the Post Office’s Horizon accounting software, and the associated prosecution of 700 sub-postmasters for theft and false accounting, is taking place to establish a clear account of the implementation and failure

Trinny Woodall, the prominent entrepreneur, has secured a £15m financing boost as part of plans to expand her beauty empire. Sky News has learnt that Trinny London, which was founded in 2017, has struck a deal with Aurelius Finance Company, a private debt provider, to provide working capital to it. Industry sources said the agreement

The boss of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, will attend the new government’s flagship investment summit next month amid suggestions that it is struggling to attract large numbers of high-calibre international business figures. Sky News has learnt that Larry Fink, BlackRock’s chairman and chief executive, will attend the October 14 gathering, which will be

A British hypersonic aviation pioneer is this weekend closing in on a £20m rescue deal that will see a Gulf-based sovereign fund becoming its biggest shareholder. Sky News has learnt that Reaction Engines is racing to finalise a two-part financing that will include leading shareholders extending loans to the company before providing a further equity