Business

Wilko has gone into administration – putting 12,000 jobs at risk. It comes after Sky News revealed earlier on Thursday the retail chain was only hours away from insolvency. In a statement, CEO Mark Jackson said: “We’ve all fought hard to keep this incredible business intact but must concede that time has run out and

Unite has warned holidaymakers they face “severe disruption” at Gatwick Airport this month after ground staff announced a new series of strikes. More than 230 workers, who work for two contracted firms at the London site, will walk out on multiple dates later in August because of a dispute over pay, the union said. Unite

Six English water companies are facing legal action over allegations they under-reported pollution discharges and overcharged customers as a result. Professor Carolyn Roberts, an environmental and water consultant, said she is planning to bring a string of cases to the Competition Appeal Tribunal in a bid to secure more than £800m compensation on behalf of

A specialist investor in struggling retailers is exploring a bid to rescue Wilko, the ailing family-owned chain which is teetering on the brink of collapse. Sky News has learnt that Gordon Brothers, which has backed British high street names including Laura Ashley, is in talks with Wilko’s advisers about structuring a potential deal. Sources said

One of Britain’s biggest housebuilders is planning widespread redundancies and the closure of two regional divisions as it battles a slump in demand from new buyers. Bellway is consulting on the proposals, which would involve the closure of its London partnerships and South Midlands divisions. The move could see 90 employees from the company’s 3,000-strong

Consumers spent less in shops as wet weather dampened demand for typical seasonal goods in July, latest figures show. Total UK retail sales increased 1.5%, according to the retail sales monitor from retail representative British Retail Consortium (BRC) and big four accountancy firm KPMG. But at the same time official figures showed the rate of

House prices fell by 2.4% in the year up to July – but there are signs the market is showing ‘resilience’, according to the Halifax. The fall in property values is less than the 2.6% annual decline it recorded in June, which was the biggest annual drop in more than 10 years. Month-on-month, house prices

A leading private equity investor is among the suitors circling Nicotinell, the anti-smoking aid which has been earmarked for sale by its FTSE-100 owner. Sky News has learnt that Inflexion, which has backed companies such as Goals Soccer Centres and Mountain Warehouse, is on a list of bidders in talks with Haleon about buying the

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has promised to investigate unlawful bank closures after the chancellor warned the practice could be “widespread”. Jeremy Hunt told the FCA that he wants to see banks “spell out to an affected customer why they are terminating their payment account”. In a letter to the regulator, he wrote this would

One of Britain’s biggest lenders to small businesses is hatching plans for a £3.5bn tie-up with the Co-operative Bank. Sky News has learnt that Shawbrook Group has approached the owners of the Co-operative Bank in recent weeks to outline plans for a stock-based combination of the two companies. Sources said this weekend that the preliminary

The construction industry has bucked recent trends and returned to growth in July, according to a closely watched survey. Just a month after UK housebuilding fell at the steepest rate in more than a decade – outside the pandemic years – commercial activity and civil engineering work grew, according to the S&P Global/CIPS construction purchasing

Tinder is testing a new tool that lets AI pick your best photos. The feature was detailed during an earnings call with investors by parent company Match, which also owns online dating platforms like OkCupid and Hinge. Chief executive Bernard Kim said it could “take out the stress” someone feels when picking pictures, and help

A final decision is in sight for Microsoft’s protracted bid to acquire the maker of Call Of Duty now that the UK’s competition regulator has closed its public consultation on the matter. The Competition and Markets Authority will consider comments from the public – which were submitted over the past week – and Microsoft’s amended

A final set of threatened strikes at London Gatwick this week have been called off after workers voted to accept a 10.3% pay rise. There had previously been warnings of significant disruption at the airport this summer after around 1,000 employees, including those in baggage handling and check-in roles, announced eight days of walkouts. But

The Bank of England has increased the base interest rate from 5% to 5.25% in the 14th consecutive hike. It is the highest interest rate rise since March 2008. Rates have been consistently raised since December 2021 in an effort to make borrowing more expensive and dampen economic activity by taking money out of the

The Bank of England is expected to increase its interest rate for the 14th time in a row today. Economists believe a 0.25 percentage point rise – to 5.25% – is the most likely increase to be announced at midday. However, the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) defied expectations last time when they hiked the

House prices will likely fall further in the coming months after a closely-watched index reported the biggest drop in 14 years, experts predict. It comes after Nationwide reported that annual property values declined by 3.8% in July – the sharpish fall since July 2009. The average home is now worth £260,828 – a fall of

BP has recorded a big drop in profits in the first half of its financial year, as energy prices fell from the highs seen after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The oil and gas giant reported net profits of just over $2.5bn (£2bn) for the three months to the end of June. It’s half the $5bn

The amount of money borrowed by consumers rose to a five-year high in June as inflation and interest rate pressure hit households, Bank of England figures show. Net consumer credit rose to the highest since April 2018 – £1.7bn was borrowed last month, following a £500m decrease in lending in May. The increase came as

Train drivers are staging a week-long overtime ban in a dispute over pay, threatening more disruption to rail services. Members of Aslef at 15 train companies in England will refuse to work overtime from Monday to Saturday and again from 7-12 August. The services affected include Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, Cross Country, East Midlands

Britain’s biggest mortgage lenders will this week launch a multimillion pound campaign aimed at illustrating the range of support they are providing to cash-strapped customers as the industry faces its most intense scrutiny in years. Sky News understands that a £5m advertising blitz paid for by participating banks will urge customers to ‘reach out’ if

Nigel Farage has launched a website to tackle de-banking following the fallout from the closure of his account with Coutts. The former UKIP and Brexit Party leader sparked a crisis at the prestigious bank’s parent company NatWest after complaining he had been excluded over his political views. It led to the chief executives of both

An activist fund manager has been building a stake in Dr Martens, the globally renowned bootmaker which has seen its valuation slump amid supply chain bottlenecks and a slowdown in US sales. Sky News has learnt that Sparta Capital has quietly accumulated stock worth tens of millions of pounds in London-listed Dr Martens, and has

Mortgage payers are now in the minority in the UK. Data from the census reveals that there are more people renting, and more people owning their homes outright, than there are people still paying off their mortgage. Within the EU just three countries – Germany, Austria and Denmark – have more renters as a share

There has been a surge in the number of people seeking breathing space from their debts while corporate insolvencies are running at levels not seen for 13 years, according to official figures. The Insolvency Service data covering England and Wales during the second quarter of the year showed 6,342 companies were registered as insolvent in

NatWest has reported a better-than-expected surge in half-year profits as the taxpayer-backed lender reels from the Nigel Farage de-banking debacle. At the end of a week in which its chief executive Dame Alison Rose was forced to quit for her own role in the row, the bank revealed £3.6bn in pre-tax profits – up from

Coutts chief executive Peter Flavel will stand down over his handling of Nigel Farage’s accounts. In a statement from the new NatWest chief executive, it was announced that Mr Flavel had stepped down by mutual consent and with immediate effect. “We have fallen below the bank’s high standards of personal service”, Mr Flavel said. “As

The parent company of British Gas has revealed half-year profits for its UK household supply arm that are up by almost 900%. Centrica said that underlying earnings at British Gas rose to £969m compared to the £98 million achieved a year earlier. It said that the bulk of the growth, however, was not down to

The Federal Reserve – the US central bank known as the Fed – has recommenced its programme of interest rate increases. The rate has been increased by 0.25 percentage points in an effort to further bring down inflation. The Fed had decided to hold interest rates last month, after 10 consecutive rises, as inflation fell

NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose has stepped down as chief executive effective immediately after she admitted to being the source of an inaccurate story about Nigel Farage’s bank account. Her four-year tenure as chief executive has ended in ignominy over her admission that she had discussed Mr Farage’s bank details with a BBC journalist. Howard

NatWest boss Dame Alison Rose has admitted she made a “serious error of judgement” when she discussed Nigel Farage’s Coutts bank accounts with the BBC business editor Simon Jack. Last week Dame Alison apologised to the former UKIP leader for the closure of his accounts and ordered an immediate review of the processes followed by

British mobile operator Virgin Media O2 has announced plans to lay off up to 2,000 employees by the end of the year. The telecoms giant reportedly started to hand some staff redundancy notices on Monday night. The job cuts will amount to more than a tenth of the mobile operator’s workforce, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The BBC has issued an apology to Nigel Farage over a story on the closure of his Coutts bank account, “which turned out not to be accurate”. In a statement, the broadcaster said: “Because of this evidence, we have since changed the headline and the copy on the original online article about his bank account