Business

Google workers in the UK and Ireland face uncertainty after its parent company Alphabet announced 12,000 jobs are to be axed globally. The Silicon Valley giant employs more than 5,000 staff in both countries, but the company would not be drawn on how the mass redundancies would impact them. The “difficult news” about the job

Cost-conscious shoppers curbed spending over the Christmas period adding to the woes of retailers, official figures show. Retail sales unexpectedly fell by 1% in December, the second month of decline, according to the Office for National Statistics. It was far worse than the 0.5% rise predicted by economists. Cost of living latest – Inflation likely

Lloyds Pharmacy is to pull out of 237 in-store Sainsbury’s branches, potentially putting more than 2,000 jobs at risk and exposing the financial pressure on UK pharmacies at the height of the NHS crisis. Lloyds Pharmacy, which bought Sainsbury’s 280-strong pharmacy network in 2015 in a deal worth £125m, said it would close the branches

The King has again signalled his wish to potentially shake up the way the monarchy is funded following a £1bn wind farm deal that could have created more money for the royals. Six new offshore wind energy lease agreements, announced by the Crown Estate, have generated a major windfall for the estate – and would

Britain’s battery sector has been delivered some unexpected good news, after an Australian billionaire told Sky News he will be opening an advanced battery plant in Oxfordshire later this year, creating up to 300 new jobs. Andrew Forrest, the founder of the Australian iron ore giant Fortescue, said he was expanding operations at WAE Technologies,

Microsoft is preparing to axe thousands of jobs in the latest move by one of the world’s biggest technology companies to reduce its workforce in the face of a slowing global economy. Sky News has learnt that the US software giant could announce plans to cull a significant number of posts around the world within

The rate of inflation eased to 10.5%, according to official figures – down from 10.7% in November. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the reduced cost of motor fuels led to the decline in the core consumer prices index (CPI) measure of inflation along with cheaper clothing and footwear, and recreation and culture. Pushing

There were 467,000 working days lost to strike action in November 2022, official figures show, bringing the number of strike days in 2022 to a 30-year high. The loss in days due to labour disputes in the month is the highest since November 2011. The total number of strike days lost to strike action between

The governor of the Bank of England has told MPs there is still “something of a hangover effect” in the wake of the mini-budget market chaos last year but declared that the hit to mortgages was over. Andrew Bailey used remarks to the Treasury committee to declare that market conditions had returned to normal after

Marks & Spencer is to open 20 new shops and create thousands of new jobs, thanks to an investment in its stores worth £480m. New M&S stores will open at former Debenhams sites in Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and Thurrock this year, the retailer has announced. More than 3,400 jobs will be created, according to

A stricken financial services group that has had its shares suspended amid apparent accounting irregularities will this week disclose that it has received takeover approaches for parts of its business. Sky News has learnt that MJ Hudson, which floated on London’s junior stock market on the day of the 2019 general election, will announce on

Land Securities Group, the FTSE-100 property owner, is lining up one of Britain’s most prominent boardroom figures as its next chairman. Sky News has learnt that Sir Ian Cheshire, the chairman of Channel 4 and Spire, the private hospital operator, has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Cressida Hogg as Landsec’s chairman. People close

Among Ian King’s guests are: Sky’s economics and data editor Ed Conway and chief economic strategist at Netwealth, Gerard Lyons, who’ve been crunching the latest GDP numbers; former trade and investment minister Lord Price talks about WorkL, a platform which aims to make people happier at work; and there’s Michael Ward, MD at Harrods, discussing

Attempts to settle public sector pay disputes have been undermined by “spiteful” anti-strike legislation tabled by the government this week, the UK’s senior union official has told Sky News. Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), vowed to fight the proposed laws “tooth and nail”, and questioned whether ministers negotiating with public

Good news has been in such rare supply in economics recently that it’s worth dwelling on it when it arrives. This morning, on Friday 13th of all days, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced that the economy had grown by 0.1% in November. This is hardly especially strong gross domestic product growth, but it’s

The economy grew by 0.1% in November, partly aided by the football World Cup, according to official figures which call into question predictions the UK is already in recession. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed pressure on demand from the effects of high inflation but a boost from people packing pubs and

The RMT union has announced it is working with train operators “towards a revised offer” following more talks to end strike action. After today’s negotiations with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), the RMT said: “We have had detailed discussions and we are working jointly towards a revised offer. “Both parties have agreed to continue discussions

Tesco’s boss says he “thinks and hopes” food inflation, which stood at a record high in December, will start to ease in the second half of the year. Ken Murphy was speaking after the UK’s largest retailer claimed it was the only one of the major supermarket chains to have grown its market share versus

The Transport Select Committee heard from two sides in the national rail dispute, but the most important voice – the third rail – was not even in the room. Mick Whelan, of drivers’ unions Aslef, put the chances of resolution at zero (on a scale of one to 10) while Mick Lynch, of the RMT,

Up to 3,200 jobs are to go at Goldman Sachs as part of the biggest restructuring efforts at the company since the global financial crash. The US-based multinational financial services company and investment bank is embarking on a series of cost-saving measures after the deal making and market boom of the COVID-19 pandemic dried up