Business

Hunter Boot, the royal warrant-holding footwear brand, is close to landing a multimillion-pound funding lifeline that could pave the way for an outright sale. Sky News has learnt that Hunter is nearing a deal that will see existing shareholders injecting £5m, with lenders contributing a further £2m. The financing, which is expected to be finalised

Castore, the British sportswear brand backed by Sir Andy Murray, is in talks with investors about a $200m fundraising as it intensifies its battle with global rivals Adidas and Nike. Sky News has learnt that the Manchester-based business, which was founded by Liverpudlian brothers Phil and Tom Beahon, is working with bankers on plans to

Wilfred Frost stands in for Ian King this week and discusses the UK avoiding a recession by the thinnest of margins. He also talks to Auto Trader’s commercial director Ian Plummer about figures suggesting the current global economic difficulties are now hitting the used car market. And with The Brit Awards celebrating the best of

The Premier League is closing in on a commercial deal with Electronic Arts (EA), the video-games maker, that would be worth close to £500m – one of the largest such agreements ever struck by English football’s top flight. Sky News has learnt that the 20 Premier League clubs were briefed at a meeting on Friday

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has not ruled out increasing pay offers to public sector workers, but warned that giving more money to teachers and nurses could entrench high inflation. Speaking as it was revealed the UK economy narrowly avoided recession in 2022, Mr Hunt also indicated he would resist pressure to cancel a planned cut to

Sales of used cars fell by 8.5% last year, according to industry figures highlighting a squeeze on stocks. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said 6.9 million vehicles changed hands in 2022 – only slightly more than the sum achieved in COVID-hit 2020. The total was down from 7.5 million during the previous

Takeaway delivery platform Deliveroo has announced it is to cut roughly 350 jobs, equivalent to about 9% of the company workforce. Roles across the global Deliveroo business will be impacted, founder and chief executive Will Shu told staff, but it is understood that UK employees will be worst hit by the losses. The majority of

Around 7,000 jobs are to go at Disney – about 3.6% of the workforce – as a multi-billion dollar cost saving restructuring was announced by chief executive Bob Iger in his battle to improve the company’s finances. It was Mr Iger’s first quarterly results announcement since he retook control of the entertainment giant in late

The UK’s competition watchdog has moved a step closer to potentially blocking Microsoft’s planned $69bn (£56bn) takeover of Call of Duty gaming firm Activision. In a provisional ruling, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the proposed tie-up could lead to higher prices, fewer choices and less innovation for UK gamers. Activision responded by claiming

The UK will avoid tipping into recession this year but a greater number of homes – one-in-four – will struggle to pay elevated bills, according to an economic think-tank. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) said in a forecast that the squeeze on incomes from the energy-driven cost of living crisis and

Consumer spending remained broadly below inflation last month but people forked out for holidays and entertainment as pent-up demand was released. Closely watched data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG, as well as from Barclays, showed spending rose by 4.2% and 9.7% in value terms respectively in January compared with a year ago.

The bosses of Britain’s biggest housebuilders will hold talks with the chancellor this week as they face a multibillion-pound bill in the form of several new levies. Sky News has learnt that the executives from companies including Barratt Developments, Fairview and Persimmon will meet Jeremy Hunt on Tuesday. The Home Builders Federation (HBF), the leading

BP has revealed it is to miss a key climate goal while announcing record annual profits. The London-based firm said its main earnings measure, underlying replacement cost profit, came in at $27.7bn (£23bn) for 2022. That is more than double the previous year’s sum despite weaker oil and gas costs knocking its performance in the

The German automotive giant BMW is in talks with the government about a £75m funding package that would secure production of electric Minis at its Oxfordshire plant. Sky News has learnt that BMW is negotiating with officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) over a grant from Whitehall’s Automotive Transformation Fund.

Netflix has said that updated measures to crack down on password sharing were posted by mistake. Following widespread disappointment on social media, with many threatening to cancel their memberships, the streaming giant claimed some new account rules being trialled in other countries had accidentally been added to its help pages elsewhere. While subscribers have been

Google looks set to unveil how it plans to rival the wildly successful ChatGPT AI, possibly within days. The technology giant has scheduled a 40-minute event for Wednesday 8 February, when it will reveal how it is “reimagining how people search for, explore and interact with information”. “Join us to learn how we’re opening up

Elon Musk did not deceive his investors when he tweeted in 2018 that he had the funding to take Tesla private, a jury has found. Investors had sought to sue the SpaceX owner for billions of dollars because his tweet caused Tesla’s shares to soar, only to crash 10 days later when it became clear

A current employee in British Gas’s debt recovery team has told Sky News that staff feel pressured to force the installation of prepayment energy meters on customers in debt. The employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had seen an increase in the number of indebted customers since the cost of living crisis began,

London’s FTSE 100 Index has reached an all-time high at 7905 earlier this afternoon. The Financial Times Stock Exchange index of the 100 most valuable companies on the London stock exchange beat the previous record of 7,903.5 set in May 2018. It comes as central banks – including the Bank of England and the US

The energy regulator Ofgem has asked suppliers to suspend the forced installation of prepayment meters and review their processes for dealing with customers who have fallen into arrears. Sky News understands the regulator made the request on Thursday after it was revealed that debt collectors working for British Gas had forced their way into the