Asos, the online fashion retailer, has emerged as the surprise frontrunner to buy TopShop from the administrators to Sir Philip Green’s former high street empire. Sky News has learnt that Asos has moved into pole position to buy the brand for more than £250m, days after a consortium led by Next withdrew from the race.
Business
The London Stock Exchange is hatching plans to create a £300m listed vehicle aimed at bolstering the survival chances of companies hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Sky News has learnt that David Schwimmer, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) chief executive, has been spearheading talks with top City figures and the Treasury about establishing
French authorities have said they are ready to give financial support to the struggling Eurostar. The country’s junior transport minister, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, told a parliamentary hearing in Paris he was talking with the UK government about ensuring the cross-Channel train operator survives the coronavirus pandemic. He said the French state would be “at Eurostar’s side
The government is working to persuade Vauxhall’s parent company to commit to future production at its Ellesmere Port plant, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has said. Stellantis says it will decide the fate of the Cheshire plant, which employs around 1,000 people directly, “in the coming weeks”. Ellesmere Port currently makes the Astra, a model which
Retail sales in 2020 saw the largest annual fall since records began in 1996, as retailers continued to suffer from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Despite a 0.3% rise in sales volumes during December, the figure for 2020 as a whole saw sales down 1.9%, with clothing sales slumping by more than a quarter.
Next has pulled out of the bidding for TopShop as the auction of Sir Philip Green’s former high street empire enters its closing stages. Sky News has learnt that a consortium comprising Next and Davidson Kempner Capital Management, a US investment firm, have withdrawn from a process being run by Arcadia Group’s administrator. The surprise
Ladbrokes owner Entain has appointed Jette Nygaard-Andersen as the first female chief executive of a major listed British gambling group. The announcement, confirming a move first reported by Sky News, adds to the small number of women who are FTSE 100 bosses. They also include Severn Trent’s Liv Garfield, Whitbread’s Alison Brittain and NatWest chief
Pressure is mounting on the UK and French governments to agree financial aid for Eurostar, the cross-Channel rail operator, as it fights for survival. The company admitted late last year that the continuing COVID-19 crisis, which has forced it to slash services from a normal level of more than 50 trains a day to just
Inflation rose to 0.6% last month as clothing prices edged higher following extended Black Friday discounting the month before. The consumer price index (CPI) measure of inflation was up from 0.3% in November and a little higher than the expected figure of 0.5%. Clothes prices increased fractionally during December over a period when they usually
HSBC has announced plans to shut 82 UK branches this year after a shift towards telephone and internet banking. The bank said it would “aim to redeploy all customer service colleagues who are impacted… into suitable nearby locations” but did not immediately say how many jobs were affected. HSBC said the decision reflected “local market
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been urged by the CBI to extend the government’s furlough and business rates holiday schemes – and to act before March’s budget. The business group said firms needed to know whether financial lifelines that have helped them survive through the coronavirus crisis will be available as they plan for the months
Joe Biden faces two economic challenges in taking office this week. The first and most immediate priority will be to get to grips with the COVID-19 pandemic and the damage it has inflicted on the US economy. The rollout of vaccines itself is way behind where those who run US health policy had hoped it
China has confirmed its bounce-back from the coronavirus crisis as official figures revealed its economy grew by 2.3% last year. The expansion was the weakest since 1976 after the pandemic sent GDP into reverse at the start of 2020. But the country where COVID-19 was first identified will be the only major global economy to
Interactive Investor, Britain’s second-largest direct-to-consumer share trading platform, is on the verge of another strategically compelling takeover with a deal to buy the retail business formerly known as Selftrade. Sky News has learnt that II is close to announcing the purchase of EQi, a division of the FTSE-250 support services group Equiniti. City sources said
Local authorities are losing tens of millions of pounds supporting struggling business tenants through the pandemic which could have dire and long-lasting consequences for local services, Sky News has found. Freedom of Information requests reveal English councils have already written off at least £19.7m associated with measures to support local businesses, including rent relief, rent
EDF, the French state-backed energy giant, is drawing up secret plans for a stock market flotation of one of Britain’s biggest providers of electric vehicle charging infrastructure amid soaring demand from motorists. Sky News has learnt that EDF, which bought a controlling stake in Pod Point less than a year ago, has instructed investment bankers