Business

When looking back at the year gone by, it is rather hard to know where to start. The death of a monarch, war in mainland Europe, the shortest running prime minister of all time. It has been an extraordinary 12 months of news, especially for the economy. Rather than running through the whole thing in

The business secretary has ordered an investment firm backed by sanctioned Russian oligarchs to sell regional broadband provider Upp, citing national security concerns. Grant Shapps ruled that the ownership of LetterOne, known as L1, was a national security risk. Its investors include the sanctioned Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman. The decision was made under the provisions

The founder of Xpediator, a London-listed logistics company, is hatching a plan to take it private. Sky News understands that Stephen Blyth, who stepped down as Xpediator’s chief executive in 2020, has assembled financial backing for a takeover offer. The identity of Mr Blyth’s backers and the price at which a bid would be pitched

Visits to high streets slumped last week, according to industry data showing a “key” impact from rail strikes amid wider evidence of a hit to the economy from the industrial action. Springboard reported that shopper numbers across Britain fell 4.6% last week versus the week before amid the disruption to public transport – also blamed

Elon Musk is polling Twitter users to ask if he should step down as head of the social media platform. Mr Musk, one of the world’s richest people, bought Twitter for $44bn in late October, but his short tenure has been turbulent. The owner of Tesla and SpaceX set his poll in motion just after

Construction businesses are going bust at their fastest rate in a decade, driving the number of company insolvencies to its highest level since the financial crisis. Rising material costs, staff shortages and plummeting consumer demand are weighing on businesses, forcing them to squeeze their margins to unsustainable levels. Official figures show that in the second

The former head of the Bank of England’s governing body is to chair the bulk of Goldman Sachs’ operations outside the US – one of the most influential jobs at the Wall Street titan. Sky News has learnt that Sir Bradley Fried, who stepped down as chair of the Court of the Bank of England only

Rishi Sunak has abandoned his predecessor’s plan to intervene in global energy markets by spending billions of pounds on foreign gas imports. Sky News has learnt that Liz Truss’s Energy Supply Taskforce (EST), which was launched in September, is being scrapped. Headed by Madelaine McTernan, who was director-general of the government’s COVID-19 Vaccine Taskforce, the

There was a surprise fall in retail sales last month as shoppers remained cautious given the squeeze on budgets from inflation in the run-up to Christmas. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a fall in sales volumes of 0.3% compared to October when the effects of fuel sales were excluded. Economists had expected to

Workers at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars’ Goodwood factory are to receive a pay award worth up to 17.6% after negotiations between the luxury automaker and Unite the union. In all, 1,200 production workers at the West Sussex plant are to receive a salary boost of 10% and a one-off payment of £2,000 from January, avoiding the

One might have thought, to judge from the acres of newsprint and hours of airtime devoted to its documentary about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, that this would be a boom time for Netflix. Not so. Shares of the streaming giant fell by more than 8% this afternoon, wiping $11.5bn from its stock market

The Bank of England has revealed a 0.5 percentage point interest rate increase – its ninth consecutive rise as it maintains its battle against inflation. The decision, by its monetary policy committee (MPC), took the bank rate to 3.5% – a fresh high not seen since the 2008 financial crisis. The move, however, represented a

The rules limiting the volume of liquids allowed on planes and requiring electronics to be taken out of hand luggage in security are to change. The government has set a deadline of June 2024 for major UK airports to install new security technology, which will make obsolete the rule to bring no more than 100ml

The rate of inflation eased to 10.7% from 11.1% last month, according to official figures showing that food and the cost of a night out continue to rise in price ahead of Christmas. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said falling motor fuel prices led the decline in the core consumer prices index (CPI) measure

A London-listed advertising technology provider has caved into shareholder pressure and abandoned plans to recalibrate a multimillion-pound executive pay scheme. Sky News has learnt that Tremor International has withdrawn two resolutions that were scheduled to be voted on at its annual meeting on Wednesday. They related to a repricing of share options and an increase

“Significant pressure” will be placed on the ability of households to meet their debts, the Bank of England has said in its latest health check of the UK’s financial system. Its Financial Stability Report, published on Tuesday morning, warned that economic conditions had deteriorated. It also revealed plans for a stress test covering investment funds

Police in the Bahamas have arrested Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt crypto firm FTX. The country’s attorney general said the Bahamas received formal notification from the US that criminal charges have been filed against him there – and it was likely there would be a request for his extradition. FTX, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency

The economy returned to growth in October, according to early official figures which experts suggest could be the last to show expansion for some time. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported growth of 0.5% – following a contraction of 0.6% in September which was largely put down to disruption to usual activity because of

Troops are being trained to drive ambulances ahead of strikes as the government holds emergency COBRA meetings to limit disruption while 10 different industries go on strike this week. Over the weekend, government sources said a decision had not yet been made to put in a formal request to the Ministry of Defence but said

Britain’s biggest retailer is preparing to kick off a search for a new chairman, firing the starting gun on a race to fill one of the FTSE-100’s most prestigious boardroom posts. Sky News has learnt that Tesco is drawing up plans to begin identifying a replacement for John Allan, who will step down in 2024.