Three is a trend, so the saying goes. So news of two more big company demergers today, hot on the heels of the three-way break-up of 129-year-old US industrial giant General Electric announced on Wednesday, suggests that “doing the splits” is being looked at anew by company boards. Toshiba, one of the best known companies
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Drugs firm AstraZeneca has said it plans to start earning a “modest” profit from its COVID-19 vaccine having previously sold it at cost. The Anglo-Swedish company has until now not been making a profit from the Oxford coronavirus jab and said it would not do so during the pandemic. The vaccine has in fact proved
Only two in five people would support increasing taxes as part of efforts to reduce Britain’s carbon emissions – but a majority are in favour of hiking the cost of air travel and banning petrol and diesel cars from city centres, new polling suggests. In a YouGov poll for Sky News, more than three-quarters of
The economy is recovering, but the pace of that recovery is diminishing – that’s the big picture from today’s gross domestic product statistics. However, the UK is getting ever closer now to regaining the income lost during the crisis. Quite where we are on that front depends somewhat on which measure you’re looking at. Image:
Britain’s economic growth slowed to 1.3% in the third quarter, official figures show. It meant that gross domestic product (GDP) remained 2.1% lower than pre-pandemic levels, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The economy’s July-September performance was slightly weaker than the figure of 1.5% expected by economists and marks a sharp slowdown compared
Elon Musk has sold shares on his company’s stock worth $5 billion (£3.73 billion) after promising to abide by a Twitter poll. The Tesla chief executive had asked his followers whether he should sell 10% of his holdings and 57.9% of the voters supported the sale. Musk said: “I was prepared to accept either outcome.”
The annual rate of inflation in the US has hit its highest level in more than three decades, fed by faster than expected rises in the cost of fuel and food. The headline consumer prices measure rose to 6.2% in October – a level not seen since 1990 – after a 0.9% surge on the
Some of the world’s largest car manufacturers and vehicle producing nations will not sign a global deal to cut new car emissions by 2040, dealing a blow to one of Boris Johnson’s key ambitions for the COP26 summit. Volkswagen and Toyota, the world’s two largest manufacturers are among those that have declined to agree to
Supermarket price inflation has reached its highest level for more than a year – adding to cost of living pressures – according to industry figures. Grocery price inflation reached 2.1% in the four weeks to 31 October according to latest data compiled by Kantar. “Prices are rising fastest in markets such as savoury snacks, canned
Small nuclear reactors will get a £210 million government investment boost in the hope of moving to clean household energy “more quickly”. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said the money for developer Rolls-Royce, matched by at least £250m of private sector funding, is a “once in a lifetime opportunity” for the UK. The announcement, which comes
JD Sports has said it is not “suspicious or illegitimate” for its executive chairman Peter Cowgill to meet his opposite number at rival Footasylum – as it responds to the publication of footage in a newspaper. The Sunday Times said the footage showed Mr Cowgill meeting Barry Bown in a car park near Bury in
An investment vehicle which began building a stake in the London-listed gambling software group Playtech earlier this year is weighing plans for a £3bn takeover of the company. Sky News has learnt that Gopher Investments is working with bankers at Rothschild on an offer that would trump a recommended bid announced last month from Aristocrat
Elon Musk has asked his 62.5 million Twitter followers whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock. The Tesla CEO launched the poll in response to a “billionaires’ tax” proposed by Democrats in the US Senate. “Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10%
Abrdn, the FTSE-100 asset manager, is in advanced talks to buy Interactive Investor (II) for more than £1.5bn – a deal that will hand it control of one of Britain’s three big DIY stock-picking platforms. Sky News can reveal that abrdn, headed by Stephen Bird, is in exclusive negotiations to acquire II and hopes to
The UK’s five biggest supermarkets will try to halve the environmental impact of a weekly food shop by the end of the decade. It is the latest climate promise made during the COP26 summit in Glasgow, and it comes as the UK announces it will lead 45 governments in moving towards more sustainable ways of
Brexit is done, and for many, there’s genuine relief it’s over. But ongoing disagreements and post-treaty disputes are having real world costs to businesses who say they feel let down and misled by the Brexit process. The row over fishing rights and the threat of retaliatory action from the French have already cost one oyster