Business

The Premier League is asking clubs to support phasing out shirt sponsorship by gambling companies in a last-ditch effort to avert a government-imposed ban. Sky News has learnt that the Premier League contacted clubs on Monday to propose a resolution that would see betting companies disappear from teams’ shirts within the next three years. Under

Labour shortages on British farms have left tonnes of food unpicked, costing millions of pounds and pushing food inflation as high as 20% at the farm gate, the agriculture industry has told Sky News. Farmers say this year’s harvest has been hit by a shortfall in the overall number of seasonal worker visas granted by the

A shake-up of childcare rules will be announced this week, aiming to save money for hundreds of thousands of families by allowing staff to look after more children. The government plans to increase the number of two-year-olds who can be cared for by one adult in a nursery from four to five, billed as helping

A family-run industrial group is to change hands for £400m, giving a much-needed boost to a deals market slowing down amid growing economic anxiety. Sky News has learnt that Triton Partners is on the verge of an agreement to acquire O’Connor Utilities Group, which is based in Manchester. An industry source said a deal could

Homeowners could soon be taking out 50-year mortgages to then be passed on to their children when they die, under new plans being considered by the government. The Japanese-style lending agreements could see people being able to buy a home with little or no expectation of completing mortgage repayments during their lifetime. Instead the property

The governor of the Bank of England is opposing plans drawn up by the Treasury that would allow ministers to overrule financial watchdogs on key areas of City regulation. Sky News has learnt that Andrew Bailey has expressed disquiet about a so-called ‘call-in power’ that will be included in the Financial Services and Markets Bill,

Klarna, the buy-now-pay-later credit provider, is trying to finalise a fresh capital injection likely to value it at less than $10bn – just 20% of its worth only two years ago. Sky News has learnt that the Swedish company has asked investors to commit in the coming days to a fundraising that is expected to

Tom Glick, a former executive at Manchester City FC’s parent company, is to take over the day-to-day running of Chelsea Football Club in the wake of its £2.5bn takeover. Sky News has learnt that Mr Glick’s appointment could be announced within days by Chelsea’s new owners, although it remained unclear on Friday whether he would

Aston Martin has said it is considering multiple funding options following reports that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund was lining up a possible investment worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Responding to the reports, the luxury carmaker said that it was keeping all “funding options under review,” amid uncertainty around the company’s future. Aston Martin’s

One of Britain’s leading electric vehicle infrastructure companies is in talks about securing a substantial new round of funding from an arm of M&G, the FTSE-100 asset manager. Sky News has learnt that Gridserve is in advanced discussions with Infracapital about a deal that would provide it with significant firepower to accelerate its rollout of

Thames Water is to tap shareholders for £1.5bn of new equity in an effort to accelerate its transformation plan, months after it was hit by the latest in a string of regulatory fines. Sky News has learnt that Britain’s biggest water utility is expected to announce on Thursday that its existing investors have agreed to

A two-year extension of tariffs on some foreign steel has been revealed by the government in a bid to protect domestic producers, despite pleas from manufacturers for help to grow imports because of a domestic steel shortage. International Trade Secretary told MPs “safeguards” would remain on 15 major categories of imported steel in total, because

Kerry says she has £20,000 of debts and counting. She is one of an increasing number of people for whom the cost of living crisis is not only making it hard to get by – but who are being plunged into the red or deeper into existing debt. “I’m paying it bit by bit,” she

The international money-transfer service WorldRemit has become the latest fintech unicorn to take an axe to its workforce, as tumbling valuations force founders onto a survival footing. Sky News has learnt that Zepz has let go scores of employees in recent months in a move that reduced its global employee numbers to approximately 1,000. News

Four Seasons Health Care, one of Britain’s biggest care home operators, is putting the bulk of its operations up for sale three years after its holding companies fell into insolvency amid an impasse over its massive debt pile. Sky News has learnt that administrators to Four Seasons have appointed the property agent Christie’s to oversee

Petrol retailers have been accused of forcing “rocket and feather” pricing after unleaded hit a new, and unexpected, record average high over the weekend. Motoring organisations had forecast a decline in wholesale costs to have been reflected at the pumps, but data from Experian Catalist revealed on Monday that petrol had reached 191.1p a litre

One of HSBC’s top UK executives is quitting in a surprise move to run the Skipton Building Society, one of Britain’s biggest financial mutuals. Sky News has learnt that Stuart Haire, group general manager and chief executive of the London-listed banking giant’s UK personal and private banking businesses, is to become the new CEO of

The father-and-son duo who have built Matchroom Sport into a global sports promotion empire are plotting a deal that will cement their status among Britain’s super-rich. Sky News can reveal that Barry and Eddie Hearn are in detailed talks with at least three private equity firms about the sale of a substantial minority stake in

A cheap festival should not be an oxymoron but many people at Glastonbury this year are in a very different place financially to where they were when they booked their tickets before the coronavirus pandemic. Festival goer Harriet Wheeler, 32, from Brighton, said people she usually goes to watch music with are not forking out

The global chairman of KPMG has taken a swipe at the $80bn break-up being hatched by rival EY, implying that such a radical restructuring would be akin to an act of corporate vandalism. Sky News has obtained part of a memo sent by Bill Thomas to partners at the firm, reiterating KPMG’s commitment to retaining

London Underground workers have voted to strike again, as they near the end of this week’s action which has seen tube services disrupted across the capital. Around 10,000 London Underground staff refused to work this week – with all tube lines affected. More than 90% of Rail, Maritime and Transport union members who voted decided

Cath Kidston, the modern vintage brand, has been put up for sale just two years after collapsing into administration with the loss of nearly 1,000 jobs. Sky News has learnt that Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) has instructed advisers at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to find a new owner for the now wholesale-led company. Cath Kidston, which

The British public is well-used to confrontations between workers in the public sector and the government of the day. Over the decades there have been strikes and work-to-rules involving miners, teachers, the railways, the civil service and health workers among others. In the last century, “the Winter of Discontent” in 1978-79 and the miners’ strikes

The UK government made one of its largest interest payments on public debt ever last month, after inflation pushed borrowing costs to some of their highest levels on record.  Despite a cut in public sector borrowing, interest costs soared to £7.6bn in May, far above the £5.1bn predicted by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

The rate of inflation has risen to a fresh 40-year high of 9.1% in May, according to the latest official figures. The update, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), represents a slight uptick on the 9% figure of the previous month – driven upwards by April’s unprecedented rise in the energy price cap. The

Imagine, if you can, you are in the chancellor’s shoes. Your instincts are to cut taxes and reduce public spending yet pretty much every decision you’ve taken in office has involved doing precisely the opposite. Worse: in recent months, even when you have forked out serious sums to support workers, much of that money seems

This week’s rail strike and the potential for further walkouts across the public sector has conjured the spirits of the Winter of Discontent, the dark days of the late 70s still considered the low point for British industrial relations, even if some of those in government and Fleet Street are too young to remember it.

Demand for supermarket value ranges has surged by 12% as grocery inflation hits its highest level in 13 years, according to closely-watched industry data. Kantar Worldpanel reported that like-for-like grocery prices rose by an annual rate of 8.3% over the four weeks to 12 June, up 1.3 percentage points on the previous period. It warned

It would be tempting to assume, on the eve of what looks likely to be the biggest rail strike in a generation and amid speculation of a so-called “summer of discontent”, that the UK is somehow unique in being afflicted with poor labour relations at present. Nothing could be further from the truth. Governments across

A former top executive at Aviva and British Gas will this week be appointed to spearhead the latest takeover quest of Marwyn, one of the London market’s most prolific creators of listed acquisition vehicles. Sky News has learnt that Mark Hodges, who has run some of the biggest companies in the British insurance industry, will

Hundreds of UK-based executives at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) are to receive one-off six-figure windfalls from the sale of the global accountancy giant’s mobility services arm. Sky News has learnt that the firm’s 950 partners in Britain will be handed an average of just over £100,000 each following a $2.2bn deal with the private equity firm Clayton

Britons cannot expect pay rises to keep up with the soaring cost of living, the government has warned. Treasury Chief Secretary Simon Clarke has said matching salaries to inflation risked causing prices in the shops to surge even higher. His intervention comes as more than 40,000 staff prepare for a three-day strike that will cripple

Russia’s economy may take a decade to recover from the crushing sanctions placed on the country following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to one of Russia’s top businessmen. Returning to pre-sanctions levels could take nearly 10 years as the country remains cut off from half of its trade, said German Gref, the