ASOS has agreed to buy Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge – but their 70 stores, employing 2,500 people, are not included in the deal. The online retailer is paying a total of £330m for the brands, plus stock currently held and on order, following the collapse late last year of Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia retail
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Serco, the outsourcing giant behind NHS Test and Trace, has confirmed that it was hit by a cyber attack – but told Sky News its oft-criticised scheme had not been impacted. The company won several coronavirus-related contracts, including NHS Test and Trace, via a procurement system that came under fire from the public spending watchdog
The FTSE-100 oil giant Shell will this week clinch the purchase of the Post Office’s broadband operations, transforming its presence in the UK home communications market. Sky News understands that Shell was on Sunday close to signing the deal after weeks of talks. It is expected to cost the energy behemoth in the region of
ASOS is this weekend on the brink of capping one of the most tumultuous months in the history of the British high street by sealing a deal worth nearly £300m to buy TopShop and Miss Selfridge. Sky News understands that the online fashion retailer hopes to sign an agreement with Arcadia Group’s administrators ahead of
Lenders to Virgin Active are preparing for a fight over the future of one of Britain’s biggest gym chains as its owners draw up a radical blueprint to help it survive the pandemic. Sky News has learnt that a syndicate of roughly half a dozen banks held a beauty parade of financial advisers this week
Financial markets have been rocked this week by a battle initiated by ordinary people against those who are usually dubbed market manipulators – hedge funds. This is not being fought on trading floors but online and is a consequence of an explosion in the popularity of amateur share trading by armchair investors and collaboration among
Shares in US retailer GameStop have fallen 44% to lose some of the extraordinary gains fuelled by Reddit users – only to recover again in after-hours trading. Thousands of investors have been buying the shares to try to reap quick gains and impose losses on hedge funds who have “shorted” the company – betting billions
A fourth COVID-19 vaccine could be approved for use in the UK within weeks after late-stage trials suggested it was 89% effective in preventing coronavirus. The prime minister has said the Novavax jab is now going to be assessed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). If approved, the vaccine would start to
US financial market regulators are to review the extraordinary rallies in the shares of struggling gaming retailer Gamestop, part-driven by participants of an investor forum on Reddit. The Securities and Exchange Commission said it was working with fellow regulators to “assess the situation and review the activities of regulated entities, financial intermediaries, and other market
UK car production slumped to its lowest level since 1984 last year as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted factories and depressed demand, industry figures show. Brexit uncertainty was also partly to blame as the number of vehicles manufactured in Britain fell by 29.3% to 920,928, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). SMMT
The 737 MAX has been cleared to resume passenger flights in Europe in a boost for Boeing as it prepares to reveal, what is expected to be, a record annual loss for the company. The US plane maker has been locked in crisis mode since the flagship of its fleet of planes was grounded globally
A surge in demand for new Xbox consoles as well as further growth in cloud computing has helped Microsoft deliver better than expected results over the Christmas quarter. Shares climbed 4% in after-hours trading adding to big gains over the last year for the US tech giant seen as one of the winners from the
The UK’s unemployment rate has hit 5% for the first time in over four years, according to official figures which suggest over 200,000 people lost their jobs in the three months to November. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) also said 828,000 fewer people were on company payrolls through December compared to the pre-COVID-19 crisis
ASOS has said it is in pole position to snap up the most valuable brands, including TopShop, within Sir Philip Green’s collapsed Arcadia empire. The online fashion retailer issued a short statement to the City on Monday morning to announce it was in “exclusive” talks with administrators after Sky News revealed details on Saturday. The
Online fashion retailer Boohoo Group is set to acquire troubled department store chain Debenhams. The cut-price deal will result in the closure of Debenhams’ remaining stores, according to a report in the Financial Times which has been confirmed by Sky News. The purchase price is expected to be about £50m, the newspaper said. Both companies
Fashion retailer Boohoo has paid £55m to acquire the brand of collapsed rival Debenhams – with the intention of relaunching it online. The cut-price deal for the brand name and intellectual property is expected to result in the closure of Debenhams’ remaining stores, according to a report in the Financial Times which was later confirmed