Business

Amazon has agreed to buy film studio MGM for $8.45bn, the two companies said in a statement. The deal brings together “nearly a century of filmmaking history” at MGM with Amazon Studios, which makes films and TV series for customers of its Prime subscription service, they said. “Amazon will help preserve MGM’s heritage and catalogue

There were at least 455 violent or abusive attacks on retail workers every day between March 2019 and March 2020, new research from the British Retail Consortium shows. Such incidents rose by 7% in the space of 12 months, many of which were triggered by staff asking customers to verify their age when buying alcohol

Ireland has no plans to increase its corporate tax rate – one of the lowest in the developed world -  the country’s finance minister has told Sky News, which could scupper Joe Biden’s radical scheme for a global minimum rate. Paschal Donohoe said that he had “significant reservations” over plans floated by the US president

The veteran fund manager Martin Gilbert risks becoming embroiled in a poaching row with his former employer by raiding Standard Life Aberdeen’s (SLA) funds arm to hire an executive for another company where he is a director. Sky News has learnt that Alex Hoctor-Duncan, the global head of Aberdeen Standard Investment (ASI), has quit to

Projects funded by UK financial institutions are responsible for 1.8 times the carbon emissions of Britain’s annual net total, a new report has suggested. The study, commissioned by Greenpeace and WWF, estimated that major UK banks and asset managers were responsible for 805 million tonnes of emissions in 2019, stemming from loans and investments in

Spain has lifted its restrictions on travellers from the UK in a bid to boost its economy. But the country is still on the UK government’s amber list, meaning people should not go unless it is for essential family or business reasons. If tourists do decide to go to Spain, they will need to quarantine

A former Brussels lawmaker will on Monday be appointed to a key City post as Britain’s financial services industry strives to maintain its international competitiveness after Brexit. Sky News understands that Dr Kay Swinburne, a former vice-chair of the European Parliament’s influential Economics and Monetary Affairs Committee, is to be named as the next chair

Six English clubs which sparked uproar by secretly agreeing to play in a European Super League (ESL) are braced for showdown talks with the Premier League next week over a punishment that could include forfeiting part of next season’s broadcast income. Sky News has learnt that the clubs and English football’s top flight will hold

Heathrow says it will be setting up a dedicated facility for passengers on direct flights from red list countries, following concerns that they were mixing with those from green and amber nations. This facility will be set up in Terminal 3 from 1 June and will then be moved to Terminal 4 as soon as

A closely-watched survey of business activity has shown its best reading on record as a vaccine-driven reopening of the economy gets into gear. The IHS Markit/CIPS flash composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for May, which covers both manufacturing and services and is updated later in the month, credited a surge in growth and employment to

Retailers have enjoyed a surge in sales as stores dubbed non-essential were able to emerge from an enforced winter hibernation during April. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed volumes rose 9.2% last month from March after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted from 12 April in England and Wales and two weeks later in

The 5p charge for a single-use carrier bag doubles to 10p from today – and it is now going to apply to all businesses in England. Previously, only larger companies with 250 employees or more had to apply the charge. Statistics from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) shows that since the

Workers at Heathrow have raised fears about overcrowding at the airport days after a traffic light system to restart foreign holidays was launched, according to a trade union. The GMB said it had received reports of travellers from “red list” countries mixing those from green and amber countries – which are deemed less risky. It

The rail network will be rebranded Great British Railways as part of a restructuring intended to simplify the organisational chaos of the franchise system and rebuild passenger numbers following COVID-19. A quarter of a century after British Rail was broken up and the network privatised, the new public body will subsume Network Rail’s responsibility for

The rate of inflation more than doubled in just one month to 1.5% during April, posing a price rise challenge to the Bank of England amid the fragile economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the consumer prices index measure rose from 0.7% in March. The increase was driven,

Some reusable face masks found on the high street have “alarming flaws” in their effectiveness, with one popular mask only blocking a third of potentially harmful particles, consumer group Which? has said. Masks from a range of popular brands were tested by the consumer watchdog to see how well they filtered particles, how breathable they