Business

A footwear reseller which has developed a cult following among Gen-Z consumers has drafted in advisers to explore options including a £150m sale. Sky News has learnt that Kick Game, which was founded in 2013, is working with the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to field interest from a number of suitors. The process, which is

The family which jointly founded one of Britain’s biggest leisure empires is finalising a £300m-plus deal to retake control of Butlin’s, the holiday camps chain. Sky News has learnt that a vehicle connected to the Harris family, which helped to establish Bourne Leisure in the 1960s, is close to signing a transaction with Blackstone, the

A US car dealership giant with a market value of over $7bn was the mystery bidder which made an offer last month for Pendragon, its British peer. Sky News has learnt that Lithia Motors, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, tabled a 29p-per-share bid valuing Pendragon at about £460m. City sources said

Labour has vowed to stop “outrageous” premiums that energy prepayment meter customers face. The pledge is part of a package of measures to tackle the cost of living crisis which Sir Keir Starmer’s party is set to unveil. It comes as Boris Johnson doubled down on his insistence that it is for his successor to

The UK’s economy contracted by 0.1% in the second quarter, according to latest estimates. In June, GDP fell by 0.6%, services fell by 0.5%, manufacturing by 1.6% and construction by 1.4%, the Office for National Statistics said. The large drop in June was partly caused by the large reduction in services spending as coronavirus test

Around 5% of businesses with 250 or more employees have offered a one-off cost-of-living payment to their workers in the last three months. The figure comes from the Office for National Statistics’ Business Insights report, which also says the rate was just 1% among smaller firms. It comes despite many businesses struggling with their own

US inflation grew at a slower pace than expected in July, according to the latest government figures, easing pressure on the Federal Reserve to deliver another super-sized interest rate hike. Consumer prices jumped by 8.5% in July compared with a year earlier, down from the 9.1% year-on-year jump in June. On a monthly basis, prices

Energy bosses have been “hauled in” before government to discuss what they are going to do with their rising profits as household bills soar, the education secretary has told Sky News. James Cleverly said Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng are to meet with leaders of energy companies as calls grow for more

Royal Mail workers are set to stage four days of strikes in the coming weeks in a dispute over pay. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said over 115,000 staff will form the biggest strike of the summer so far to demand a “dignified, proper pay rise”. Walkouts will take place on Friday 26 and Wednesday

The summer heatwave prompted shoppers to spend more on summer clothes, picnic food and air conditioning in July, according to the latest figures. The British Retail Consortium said the value of total sales was 2.3% higher last month than it was in July 2021 – good news for retailers after falls in each of the

Campaigners have demanded a 25p cut in fuel prices to help reduce the cost of living. FairFuelUK said fuel duty should be cut by 20 to 25p per litre in a similar manner to cuts seen in Europe. The campaign organisation said the price of a barrel of Brent Oil was now below £80 a

Just over half of councils in England have started making payments to COVID-hit businesses from a £1.5bn support package – almost 18 months after it was launched. Businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors were given a business rates holiday due to the pandemic, but those outside these sectors were told they could not

Arcadia Group’s pension schemes are closing in on a deal to offload retirement funding promises made by the retail empire, owned by Sir Philip Green, prior to its collapse two years ago. Sky News has learnt that the trustees of its executive and staff schemes are in detailed discussions with Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC), the

Water companies across the UK are being “strongly urged” to enforce a hosepipe ban. Environment Secretary George Eustice says some local providers “have rightly taken action to mitigate the effects of this prolonged dry weather” – but other utility companies are yet to follow suit. Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, Mr Eustice warned the “very

The high street giant Next is in talks to take a big stake in Joules, the struggling fashion and lifestyle products chain. Sky News has learnt that Next has been negotiating for several weeks to acquire up to 25% of the smaller London-listed retailer. City sources said this weekend that the discussions were not certain

Workers at the UK’s biggest container port will go on strike for more than a week later this month in a dispute over pay. More than 1,900 members of Unite union at Felixstowe will strike for eight days from Sunday 21 August until Monday 29 August. The union said that employer Felixstowe Dock and Railway

The US hiring boom continued last month, as employers added 528,000 jobs – more than double the number expected. The government data showed a labour market continuing to defy surging inflation and back-to-back quarters of contraction in GDP, which have raised fears of a recession. It marked the 19th consecutive month of payrolls expansion, and

Just a day after the Bank of England warned of a 15-month recession, there are signs in housing and recruitment that the slowdown is already well under way. Figures out on Friday showed that house prices fell in July (in monthly terms) for the first time in more than a year, with warnings that the

How does it feel running an energy intensive business in the age of soaring prices? “It’s like a train coming down the tracks and you know you can’t avoid it,” says Matthew Greene. He’s the managing director of Ercon Powder Coating, a second-generation family firm in Bilston in the West Midlands, one of hundreds of

Next says warm weather and demand for formal clothing have helped boost its sales in recent months. The British retailer said that full price sales were 4.7% stronger than expected in the second financial quarter, saying this was likely the result of “unusually warm and dry weather”. The return to formal dressing “perhaps driven by

Hope of a meaningful drop in global oil prices have been dashed after a major group of oil-producing nations, including Russia, agreed to increase volumes by a much lower rate than requested. The United States had called on the OPEC+ cartel to raise output by at least 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) to help ease

The UK’s service sector has grown at its slowest rate since February last year – when much of the country was still under COVID-19 restrictions. The monthly S&P Global/CIPS UK services PMI survey hit 52.6 in July, from 54.3 a month earlier. Anything above 50 is positive so it means the sector – which accounts

The energy price cap will remain above £3,500 a year throughout most of 2023, according to the latest dire forecast for household bills. The prediction, from energy consultancy Cornwall Insight, comes as families gear up for what is set to be the toughest winter for decades amid mounting costs on almost every front as inflation

BP has reported a second-quarter profit of £6.9bn ($8.45bn) – its highest in 14 years – at a time when consumer fuel prices have been at record highs. BP’s underlying replacement cost profit, the company’s definition of net earnings, was the strongest since 2008 and far exceeded analysts’ expectations of £5.6bn ($6.8bn). That compares to

The UK’s largest sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion is to sell its Footasylum chain following a long battle with the country’s competition watchdog. The business will be sold to German asset management firm Aurelius for £37.5m – a substantial loss on the £90m JD Sports paid for it three years ago. The news confirms a

The Financial Conduct Authority has finalised tougher rules for the marketing of high-risk investments. Under the new rules, firms approving and issuing marketing must have the right expertise and those marketing some types of high-risk investments will have to do better checks to make sure those investments are well matched to consumers. Some incentives such

A London-based commodities broker controlled by a group of former Lehman Brothers executives will this week clinch a takeover of a major industry peer. Sky News has learnt that Marex Group will announce on Monday that it has reached an agreement to buy ED&F Man Capital Markets from ED&F Man Holdings. The purchase price is

Octopus Energy has asked the government for a £1bn taxpayer funding package to seal a takeover of Bulb, its stricken rival. Sky News has learnt that privately owned Octopus is nearing a deal with ministers to acquire its smaller competitor, which collapsed late last year. City sources said this weekend that a deal would involve

With so much fog surrounding the prospects for the UK economy, results statements from the country’s main commercial banks this week were an ideal opportunity to make sense of things, as the big lenders tend to have a good idea of what is happening on the ground. The overall picture painted – and this is

Credit card borrowing last month increased at the fastest annual rate since 2005, according to new figures from the Bank of England. At the same time, the amount of money being deposited into accounts plummeted, as concerns grow about the rapidly increasing cost of living. Consumer credit, which includes borrowing on credit cards, overdrafts, personal

The UK’s competition watchdog is investigating Asos, Boohoo and George at Asda over claims about the sustainability of their products. The Competition and Markets Authority said it would examine the eco-friendly and sustainability claims made by the three businesses about items including clothing, footwear and accessories. In January the CMA started to look at sustainability

British Airways owner IAG has returned to quarterly profitability for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic, but blamed Heathrow for its current “operational challenges”. IAG chief executive Luis Gallego said the group’s best performing airlines were Iberia and Vueling, which were boosted by a recovery in the Spanish domestic market and routes to Latin

Up to 40% of households could be drawn into fuel poverty by soaring energy prices this winter, the boss of one of the UK’s largest energy providers has told Sky News. Rising wholesale gas prices, fuelled by the war in Ukraine, mean the domestic energy price cap is forecast to increase from the current £1,971