Business

Four years ago, Michael Squires received a letter that turned his life upside down. A brown envelope containing a tax demand for £24,000 landed on his doormat. It came out of nowhere and gave Mr Squires sleepless nights as he worried about where he would find the money. “It’s a horrible anxious feeling, I knew

Kemi Badenoch, the business secretary, is seeking urgent talks with Fujitsu to thrash out a compensation package for sub-postmasters affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal. Sky News has learnt that Ms Badenoch wrote to Takahito Tokita, the Japanese company’s chief executive, in the wake of an acknowledgement from Fujitsu bosses that it had a

Directors of BP were meeting on Tuesday evening to finalise the appointment of Murray Auchincloss, the company’s acting chief executive, as its permanent boss. Sky News can reveal that the FTSE-100 oil major’s board has gathered at a central London hotel to agree the details of Mr Auchincloss’s appointment as the successor to Bernard Looney.

A plan to boost the security of critical imports has been revealed by the government following a host of disruptions to global supply chains. The Department for Business and Trade said it had been working with key industry groups for several weeks to identify products the country could not do without and should be “safeguarded”.

Wage growth has slowed but still remains well above the rate of inflation while unemployment is unchanged, according to official figures. Average weekly wage growth, which excludes bonuses, eased to 6.6% in the three months to November, from 7.3% a month earlier, the Office for National Statistics said. It means pay packets grew faster than

Average house prices have jumped by about £4,500 this month – but experts are still predicting that 2024 will be a “smoother year” for buyers. According to Rightmove, the typical asking price for a British property now stands at £359,748, which is 0.7% lower compared with a year ago. The number of new houses coming

New strikes have been announced by the train drivers’ union ASLEF. Drivers will stage fresh industrial action and an overtime ban from the end of the month in a long-running pay dispute, the union said. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the

Plans for a new government information campaign to tackle the explosion in online fraud have sparked divisions among major banks over concerns about its cost and potentially conflicting public messages. Sky News has learnt that the Home Office has in recent weeks been in discussions with major lenders including Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Santander

Vue International, Europe’s largest independent cinema operator, is finalising a fresh debt restructuring after the Hollywood actors’ strike halted the release of a string of blockbuster movies. Sky News has learnt that UK-based Vue, its shareholders and lenders are in the process of organising the company’s second debt-for-equity swap in 18 months in a bid

What lies 1,000 metres beneath the North Sea could help the climate of the atmosphere above. And I’m on my way down to see it. The rattly lift drops at 10 metres per second, the speed of a sprinter, ruffling the air and flapping my shorts as it plunges down. Yes shorts. I wear a

US flight safety regulators are to intensify their scrutiny of Boeing in the wake of the mid-air panel blowout a week ago aboard one of the company’s planes. The announcement was made by a top Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) official who is working on the investigation into the scare aboard the Alaska Airlines flight on

Shipping costs have risen by more than 300% since November amid the disruption caused to freight in the Red Sea from attacks, according to fresh data. Just hours after US and UK-led attacks on Yemen aimed at preventing renewed assaults on shipping by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, it was revealed that freight prices continued to rise

The UK economy returned to growth in November, according to official figures that are being closely watched amid fears the prospect of recession remains on a knife edge. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported output growth of 0.3% for the month – recovering from a 0.3% decline witnessed in October when many weather-sensitive sectors

Two tech giants are battling it out for the title of the world’s most valuable company. Microsoft had overtaken Apple for the first time since 2021 to become the world’s most valuable firm by market capitalisation – which measures the value and number of a company’s shares. Money latest:‘Huge announcement’ on car finance could see

Tesco has raised its annual profit forecast while joining Marks and Spencer (M&S) in reporting strong Christmas sales. Tesco, the UK’s largest retailer, said comparable sales growth over six weeks to 6 January was 6.8% higher compared to the same period last year. The figure rose to 7.5% over the 19 weeks also covering its

The head of beleaguered plane maker Boeing has said “a quality escape” occurred in safety checks which led to a mid-flight blowout when a door ‘plug’ came off during a flight involving one of the company’s jets. Chief executive Dave Calhoun explained that the “quality escape” to which he referred was “anything that could potentially

Sainsbury’s says its first Nectar Prices Christmas helped it to achieve volume growth ahead of the grocery market over the festive season but sales were not up across the board. The UK’s second-largest supermarket chain by market share reported a 9.3% rise in grocery sales over the 16 weeks to 6 January. It stated that

On today’s episode, Ian King speaks to John Grant, chief analyst at the aviation analytics firm OAG, about problems mounting for Boeing, as its 737-9 MAX jets continue to be inspected. Plus, hear from YouGov boss Steve Hatch about the firm’s latest acquisition. And global cloud enterprise software company, IFS, has a new chief executive

The father of a two-year-old boy who died after exposure to mould at his housing association flat has backed proposals to bring in a strict time frame for landlords to fix problems. The new requirements are part of a consultation on measures under legislation named after Awaab Ishak. Awaab died in December 2020 from a

Barclays is in the process of removing 5,000 roles from its global workforce in recent months as part of a renewed push by executives to slash costs and improve the bank’s profitability. Sky News has learnt that a total of roughly 5,000 jobs were shed from the British bank’s 84,000-strong ranks during 2023, with about