Business

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has notched up sales of more than £42bn for its annual Singles’ Day sales event – but the extravaganza threatened to be overshadowed by plans for new regulation. The running total announced by the company shortly after midnight showed the event was already 16 times bigger than US online retailer Amazon’s

Supermarket bosses have launched a fresh lobbying drive to extend Sunday trading hours ahead of a Christmas shopping rush that they are warning ministers could put customers’ safety at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sky News has learnt that major grocers including J Sainsbury and Wm Morrison have been urging the government in recent weeks

A record 314,000 redundancies were recorded in the three months to September as the coronavirus took a further toll on jobs. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also showed the unemployment rate rose to 4.8%, its highest level since November 2016 and up from 4.5% the month before. ONS data for October also

Stock markets have responded very strongly to news from the US drugs giant Pfizer and the German biotech company BioNTech that their COVID-19 vaccine has proved to be more than 90% effective in late stage clinical trials. The positive outcome to the trials, which to date have involved almost 44,000 people globally, have raised hopes

Stock markets in Asia have rallied after Joe Biden’s US election victory. Japan’s Nikkei was the most notable gainer, hitting a 29-year high after the confirmation of the result over the weekend. Mr Biden’s defeat of Donald Trump has eased fears about a continuation of a damaging trade war between the US and China, the

One of Britain’s fastest-growing genomics companies is selling a stake to Tencent, the giant Chinese technology investor, as part of a funding round that also includes a major UK pensions provider. Sky News has learnt that Cambridge-based Congenica will on Monday announce that it has secured $50m (£39m) in a Series C fundraising. Legal &

After an £85m refurbishment, the Royal Lancaster hotel was set to take its place as one of London’s premier locations. Then came the coronavirus pandemic. Now, the immaculate lobby is empty. Sebastian, the concierge who worked his way up the ranks over 16 years, waits patiently behind his visor. Image: Sally Beck says ‘resilience, creativity

Supermarkets – including Tesco and Sainsbury’s – are reportedly blocking off access to parts of their stores following advice from the UK government for the English lockdown. It comes after controversy over similar sights in Wales when they went into a two-week national lockdown last month. Following guidance published by the UK government on 5

Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is plotting an overhaul of the UK’s public company listings regime in a bid to lure more technology ‘unicorns’ to London. Sky News has learnt that Mr Sunak is preparing to announce a review aimed at helping the City compete more robustly with New York’s vast capital markets in a post-Brexit

Deloitte is kicking off talks with potential buyers of its British restructuring business amid expectations of a surge in activity triggered by swathes of coronavirus-inspired insolvencies. Sky News has learnt that Daniel Butters, who heads the big four audit firm’s UK restructuring operations, briefed hundreds of staff this week that he had been given a

Hovis, the 134-year old British bread brand, has been bought by a UK private equity firm following a bidding war. Joint owners Premier Foods, of Mr Kipling fame, and US-based Gores Group sold the brand to Endless for an undisclosed sum days after Sky News revealed that it was close to seeing off competition from

Former BHS owner Dominic Chappell has been jailed for six years for evading £584,000 in taxes. Chappell failed to pay the tax on £2.2m in income he received after buying the chain for £1 in 2015 from retail tycoon Sir Philip Green. Meanwhile he splashed out on a luxury lifestyle which included a £90,000 yacht,

The furlough scheme will be extended until the end of March, the chancellor has announced. Rishi Sunak made the announcement in a statement to MPs, telling them that the payments would remain at 80% of people’s wages. The policy will be reviewed in January, he told the Commons, to “decide whether economic circumstances are improving

Joe Biden has made no secret of his opposition to Boris Johnson’s career-defining flagship policy: Brexit. Mr Biden claims – wrongly, according to the prime minister – that the Good Friday Agreement is threatened by the Internal Market Bill, currently going through the House of Lords. Image: Boris Johnson will be hoping to have a

Nearly 80 business leaders from the north of England are backing a plea to Boris Johnson from the region’s “Red Wall” Tory MPs for a roadmap out of lockdown and a post-Covid economic recovery plan. In a move turning up the heat on the prime minister as England goes into a four-week lockdown, the business

The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) is cutting a further 1,500 jobs through a shake-up of its head office functions to save cash as the coronavirus crisis continues to take a toll on sales. The employee-owned retailer had already shed 1,390 roles in the wake of pandemic disruption this year that saw eight underperforming John Lewis