Business

Another 1,332 redundancies at collapsed retailer Wilko have been confirmed despite a deal to snap up more than 50 branches, the GMB union has said. It comes after administrators PwC offloaded 51 of the chain’s 400 stores to budget retailer B&M. The job cuts are in addition to the loss of 269 roles at the

The Bank of England “regrettably” made mistakes that have fuelled inflation in the UK, its former chief economist has told Sky News. Andy Haldane said the Bank had printed money through its programme of quantitative easing “longer than it needed to” as it tried to help the economy recover from COVID – and also suggested

Shares in Superdry plunged to a record low on Monday after the struggling fashion retailer reported a bigger-than-expected annual loss. It came as trading in the British brand resumed after the company revealed on Friday that it ended the year to April with an adjusted pre-tax loss of £21.7m – compared with a profit of

The boss of Universal Music Group and the fashion designer Anya Hindmarch are among a coterie of British business leaders being lined up to join a revamped government Board of Trade. Sky News has learnt that Ms Hindmarch, the UMG chairman and chief executive Sir Lucian Grainge and Tim Bevan, the co-founder of film producer

Frontline Tesco workers will be offered body cameras following an “unacceptable” spike in verbal and physical attacks. The supermarket’s chief executive Ken Murphy said the move to protect its “unsung heroes” was prompted by a rise in physical assaults by a third compared with this time last year. Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Mr

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is confident his plan to reduce rising prices is working and will soon ease the financial strain on UK households. Ahead of parliament returning on Monday, Mr Hunt acknowledged that many households across the country are still struggling financially. He emphasised that “sticking to the plan” to reduce inflation is the best

Sajid Javid, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Greg Clark, Rishi Sunak, Grant Shapps and Kemi Badenoch: the list of Tory chancellors and business secretaries who have sought to unlock the puzzle of the British steel industry’s future in recent years is almost as long as the number of active production facilities remaining in Britain. And as the issue

Little has been heard from Mohamed Fayed during the last decade. He sold Harrods to Qatar Holdings as long ago as May 2010 and his other main trophy asset in the UK, Fulham FC, was offloaded to the US businessman Shahid Khan in July 2013. That latter deal brought down the curtain on a controversial

Comparing the UK economy with its pre-pandemic size has become an almost totemic way of highlighting its sluggish performance post-COVID. It has certainly been a gift for Opposition politicians and in particular when – in September last year – the Office for National Statistics (ONS) produced evidence that the UK was the only economy in

House prices fell by 5.3% in the year to August – a bigger-than-expected drop, according to Nationwide. The lender’s figures were released as interest rate hikes by the Bank of England to tackle inflation send mortgage payments higher – as well as rental costs. Additional housing bills are piling more misery on families at a

The owner of HMV is finalising a deal to rescue the majority of Wilko’s operations, salvaging more than 8,000 jobs at the stricken high street retailer. Sky News has learnt that Wilko’s administrators, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), began consulting the chain’s major creditors on Thursday on the terms of an agreement with Doug Putman. One source with

The UK car industry has declared it is “recovering” after production last month rose by almost a third compared to a year ago. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reported a 31.6% hike in output during July versus the same month in 2022. It said the 76,451 vehicles made represented a sixth consecutive

Job losses at Wilko could be announced on Thursday after an offer to buy the entire business reportedly failed to “pass basic checks”, according to a union representing workers. The GMB said it had been told redundancy plans at the discount homeware chain, which were said to have been suspended earlier this week, could be

The number of house and flat sales in the UK this year is set to be the lowest in a decade, according to new figures from a leading property website. Zoopla’s monthly house price index, which tracks the number of homes sold subject to contract, found levels were down a fifth so far compared to

Redundancies among Wilko’s 12,500-strong workforce have been suspended while further bids for the collapsed retailer are considered, a union has said. The GMB said it had been assured by administrators PwC about the move during a meeting on Tuesday morning. The discount homeware goods company collapsed earlier this month after struggling from inflationary pressures, competition

The expansion of Sadiq Khan’s controversial ultra low emissions zone (ULEZ) will come into force on Tuesday despite facing a number of political hurdles. The zone – which charges motorists £12.50 a day if their car does not comply with emissions standards – will cover every London borough and not just the city centre, as