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
Business
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
WhatsApp is delaying the rollout of new business features following a user backlash over the company’s data sharing practices. The delay is a setback for its plan to generate revenue by facilitating commercial exchanges on the messaging app, which Facebook acquired for $19bn in 2014 but has been slow to monetise. WhatsApp has said users
The proprietors of The Daily Telegraph have begun exploring plans for a £3bn-plus flotation of Very Group, their booming online retail operation. Sky News has learnt that the Barclay family is at the early stages of examining whether to take Very to the public markets in order to capitalise on exploding investor interest in digitally
The UK economy returned to a reverse gear in November as tightened coronavirus restrictions took their toll on the fightback from the steepest recession on record, according to official figures. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a 2.6% slump in output during the month – building on a loss of momentum that began late
Norwegian, the struggling European airline that offered cut price transatlantic flights, says a cull of routes will result in the loss of 1,100 jobs at Gatwick Airport. The company, which has been battling high costs associated with a rapid expansion exacerbated by the impact of massive COVID-19 disruption to international travel, said it was to
Tesco has reported a record Christmas across its business but warned annual coronavirus-related costs are on track to hit £810m. The UK’s largest retailer which, like rivals, has benefited from its essential status during the COVID-19 pandemic, said it outperformed the market during each week of the crucial festive season. It revealed a 6.1% rise
UK supermarket chains have demanded government intervention to prevent “unworkable” new Brexit regulations causing disruption to food supplies to Northern Ireland. The chief executives of Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Iceland, Co-op and Marks & Spencer have written to Cabinet office minister Michael Gove warning that enforcement of new procedures when a grace period expires on 31