Business

The latest in a spate of corporate transactions in Britain’s estate agency sector will be unveiled this week when London-listed Property Franchise Group (TPFG) strikes a deal to buy the Fine and Country chain. Sky News has learnt that TPFG will announce to the stock exchange as early as Monday that it has acquired Fine

Britain’s biggest water company has been told it faces a fine of more than £40m over the payment of a shareholder dividend in spite of its poor performance. Sky News has learnt that Ofwat notified Thames Water last month that it was minded to impose the penalty for breaching rules on the payment of dividends.

Life comes at you fast if you are the person responsible for maintaining the shareholder register at NatWest. Until last week, it was hoped that the bank would be at the centre of Jeremy Hunt‘s plans to get millions more Britons investing in the stock market. Money latest: Income growth ‘worst in generations’ The chancellor

Superdry, the struggling London-listed fashion chain, has received a reprieve after the owner of its flagship store towed back from a challenge to its rescue plan. Sky News understands that M&G, the asset manager which had been contemplating a formal objection to Superdry’s restructuring plan, has decided not to proceed with the move. M&G owns

A fancy dress manufacturer which traces its roots back to the 19th century is on the brink of insolvency after failing to find a buyer. Sky News has learnt that Smiffys, which is family-owned, is lining up PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as administrators, having tried to secure a sale in recent weeks. A notice of intention to

The establishment of Great British Energy is among the last remnants of the ‘green prosperity plan’ devised and championed by Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary of state for energy security and net zero, three years ago. The former Labour leader’s vision was to spend £28bn per year in the first five years of an incoming

Dr Martens has reported another sharp fall in profits following a “challenging year” for the business. The struggling company said global pre-tax profits in the 12 months to March were £97m – a fall of almost 43% on the previous year. Revenue also dipped 12% to £877m – down from just over £1bn in 2022/23.

Daniel Kretinsky is on the cusp of becoming the new man in charge of the Royal Mail. The board of its parent company, International Distribution Services (IDS), announced on Wednesday it had agreed to a takeover by Mr Kretinsky’s EP Group, which has valued the firm at £5.3bn. The deal must first be approved by

The owners of Royal Mail have agreed to a £3.6bn takeover bid by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky. The company’s parent firm International Distribution Services (IDS) said its board of directors had approved the deal after a formal offer was made earlier this month. Mr Kretinsky’s EP Group already owns 27.6% of the business. Shareholders will

UK drivers are paying the most for diesel in all of Europe, according to car and breakdown services company the RAC. The average cost for a litre of diesel is 155p, 5p more expensive than the second highest average amount of 150p a litre paid in Ireland and Belgium. Money latest – Thieves targeting electric

The rate of price rises in UK shops has returned to “normal levels”, according to new industry figures. Overall annual shop price inflation eased to 0.6% in May, down from 0.8% in April, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and NielsenIQ said. The figure is the lowest since November 2021. Please use Chrome browser for a

Rishi Sunak will meet leading Conservative Party donors on Monday evening as he seeks to mobilise financial support for the surprisingly timed general election campaign he triggered last week. Sky News understands that the prime minister will have dinner with a small group of long-standing and more recent donors as the Tories target millions of

An Indian pharmaceutical group is closing in on a deal to snap up Nicotinell, the anti-smoking aid, from Haleon, its FTSE-100 parent company. Sky News has learnt that Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories could be within days of acquiring the brand and a number of lesser-known European products from Haleon. Sources said a deal was likely

One of Britain’s biggest housebuilders is exploring a £1bn takeover bid for Cala Group, a rival player in the sector which has been put up for sale. Sky News has learned that Persimmon, which has a market value of £4.74bn, is leaning towards submitting an offer for Cala ahead of a bid deadline next week.

In the 15-year scandal of the Post Office, this may be remembered as the day that hundreds of sub-postmasters, subject to the greatest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, were finally heard. In Westminster, the Post Office Offences Act was being rushed through parliament, included in the ‘wash-up’ triggered by the general election. Come

Pocket money is in decline, data shows – but kids are finding new ways to pay for their everyday “essentials”. Data from the NatWest pocket money index (looking at transactions from 308,000 children in the Rooster app), shared with our Money blog, shows only 30% of families now pay pocket money as part of a

Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells has admitted to amending the legal document Royal Mail issued to would-be investors before it became publicly owned to remove mention of the flawed Horizon IT system. Data from the accounting software created by Fujitsu was used to prosecute more than 700 sub-postmasters for theft and false accounting. Many

The reason for the fall in the household energy price cap is pretty straightforward – wholesale electricity and gas prices have fallen since the price cap was last set in February this year. Wholesale gas and electricity prices make up by far the biggest proportion of the energy bills – £720 of the current £1,690

The average annual energy bill will be £506 cheaper than a year ago from July, the sector’s regulator has announced. The energy price cap – which limits what can be charged per unit of energy – is due to fall from the month after next. It means the average annual bill will be £1,568 a

Growth in the UK’s powerhouse services sector has cooled by more than expected to its weakest level in six months, according to a closely-watched survey of businesses. As campaigning got underway for a general election that is widely expected to be dominated by the economy, the S&P Global UK Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) suggested