Business

The owner of Poundland, one of Britain’s biggest discount retailers, has drafted in City advisers to explore radical options for arresting the growing crisis at the chain. Sky News has learnt that Pepco Group, which has owned Poundland since 2016, has hired consultants from AlixPartners to address a sales slump which has raised questions over

TikTok has said it could go dark on Sunday after the Supreme Court ruled against its bid to avoid a ban that could shut the app down. The looming ban is the end result of 2024 legislation passed on national security concerns that called for TikTok parent ByteDance to sell the popular short-video app or

The UK’s benchmark stock index has reached another record high. The FTSE 100 index of most valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange closed at 8,505.69, breaking the record set last May. It had already broken its intraday high earlier on Friday, meaning it reached a high not seen before during trading hours. The weakened

Fears have been raised over the robustness of Britain’s trade sanctions against Russia after the main government department enforcing the rules admitted it has no idea how many cases it is investigating. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which monitors and polices flows of goods in and out of the country, says it had no central

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned against the prospects of a renewed US-led trade war, just days before Donald Trump prepares to begin his second term in the White House. The world’s lender of last resort used the latest update to its World Economic Outlook (WEO) to lay out a series of consequences for

The future of Pizza Hut’s restaurants in Britain has been salvaged after the business was sold out of insolvency proceedings to the brand’s main partner in Denmark and Sweden. Sky News can reveal that Heart With Smart (HWS), Pizza Hut’s dine-in franchise partner in the UK, was sold on Thursday to an entity controlled by

The UK economy just about returned to growth in November after two months of contraction, the latest official figures show. Gross domestic product (GDP), the standard measure of an economy’s value and everything it produces, grew by 0.1%, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. It was expected to grow by 0.2%. Money

There’s been a surprise fall in inflation to 2.5% after two months of rises, official figures show. It means prices are still rising but at a slower pace than before, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data for December. Economists had expected the figure to remain at 2.6%, the level recorded in November. Inflation

The rate of inflation may have eased slightly but it is clear that UK households are facing a surge of rising costs ahead. At an annual rate of 2.5%, the consumer prices index (CPI) measure of inflation for the 12 months to December is well below the energy-led cost of living crisis peak above 11%.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been accused of refusing to “face up to her own failures” by “jetting off to Beijing” during a week of market turmoil. Shadow chancellor Mel Stride accused the chancellor of ducking difficult questions as the “government was losing control of the economy” while Ms Reeves visited China over the past week

Plans to develop the UK’s largest untapped oilfield have been thwarted in a major climate court case. A Scottish court ruled the previous Conservative government acted “unlawfully” when it green-lit the offshore Rosebank oilfield and smaller Jackdaw gas project. The judge said the assessment of the projects’ climate damage failed to acknowledge the impact of

Campaigners are calling on the government to allow rents to be capped within tenancies as a key bill returns to the Commons. More than 30 MPs have backed an amendment to the Renters’ Rights Bill which, if passed, would restrict how much landlords can raise rents on sitting tenants by limiting percentage increases to inflation

Sir Keir Starmer has said the Treasury will be “ruthless” in cutting government spending as market turbulence continues. Responding to a question about the economic situation from Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby, he said: “The number one mission of this government is economic growth. “And that was run through the budget, but there’s much

The government will “mainline AI into the veins” of the UK, with plans being unveiled on Monday by Sir Keir Starmer. The prime minister is set to promise investment, jobs and economic growth due to a boom in the sector. It comes as his government battles against allegations they are mismanaging the economy and stymied

The health secretary has said that the cabinet is aware of the “pressure” on Chancellor Rachel Reeves amid volatile markets and a challenging broader economic picture – but appealed for the public to “give her time”. Wes Streeting argued that the public “underestimates” the “amount of heavy-lifting” Ms Reeves has had to do and will

The proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds living with their parents has risen by more than a third in just under two decades, according to new analysis. Last year, the share of the age group living at home was almost a fifth (18%), up from 13% in 2006, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said in