Asda has chartered its own cargo ship to ensure that it is well stocked with festive decorations, toys, clothes and gifts amid a global supply chain crisis. Britain’s third-biggest supermarket chain also said it had increased the volume of turkeys and pigs in blankets available in stores compared with last year. Meanwhile the retailer’s depots
Business
Credit card borrowing surged last month as households faced up to rising costs across the economy while mortgage approvals fell sharply to levels not seen since before government aid for the housing market was introduced. Bank of England data showed consumers borrowed a net additional £706m during October – a sum dominated by £637m in
Deliveroo is close to naming Goldman Sachs as one of its new brokers, eight months after the Wall Street bank played a major role in what became one of the London stock market’s most calamitous listings. Sky News has learnt that Deliveroo is close to finalising the appointments of Goldman and Barclays as joint corporate
The owner of Butlin’s is preparing to put it up for sale amid a boom in British staycations, sparking a potential bidding frenzy for the country’s best-known chain of holiday camps. Sky News has learnt that Bourne Leisure, which also owns Haven and Warner Leisure Hotels, recently picked investment bankers to conduct an auction of
News of a potentially fast-spreading new coronavirus variant has already triggered a violent reaction on markets and in a number of different asset classes. While much attention has naturally alighted on equity markets, with big falls in the FTSE-100 and continental European indices such as the DAX in Germany and the CAC-40 in France, probably
A major crisis is coming to a head on pig farms up and down the country. It’s a crisis that farmers warned us about, and now it’s happening. Their worst nightmares are coming to pass; the mass culling of healthy animals because there simply aren’t enough butchers to process them and get them off farms.
More than £65bn was wiped off the UK stock market on Friday, reflecting fears that a new coronavirus variant could wreak further havoc on international business and travel. The FTSE 100 fell more than 3%, or 240 points, as the market opened on Friday morning, following steep drops in global markets. Shares in major airlines
Retailers are putting up prices at the fastest rate since 1990 according to industry figures that add to evidence of a cost of living squeeze this winter. A CBI survey also suggested that sales have been boosted by consumers starting their Christmas shopping early because of fears over supply disruption. Clothing and department stores saw
Hospitality firms face a “major challenge” from higher energy and staff costs as they seek to rebuild following the pandemic, bar and pub operator Mitchells & Butlers has warned. The company behind brands such as Harvester and All Bar One reported a second year in a row of annual losses though said in recent weeks
Consumers can expect a “scaled-back” Christmas this year as retailers reduce the range of products available to cope with supply chain pressures, MPs have been told. A lack of HGV drivers has strained supply chains and prompted fears of shortages on supermarket shelves this festive season. Shane Brennan, chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation,
The president of the CBI has called on the prime minister to “stop hiking taxes and focus on boosting investment” in a rebuke over the increasing burdens being placed on business. Lord Bilimoria will cite policies such as plans to increase corporation tax and national insurance in a speech to the business organisation’s annual conference.
Professional football club-owners in England will be overseen by a new licensing regime forcing them to demonstrate fully-funded three-year business plans under proposals to be set out by a former sports minister this week. Sky News has learnt that a review of football’s governance led by Tracey Crouch, the Conservative MP, will outline the new
It’s been two years since this government was elected with a mandate to level up the left-behind parts of the UK. Now that the first round of the Levelling-Up Fund has been allocated, we can start to judge whether it will achieve what Boris Johnson set out to do. But while much has been made
Online electricals retailer AO World has warned of poor availability of some products and slashed its sales outlook due to supply chain problems. Products such as gaming consoles and mobile phones – which are newer territory for AO than its traditional staples such as washing machines and fridge-freezers – were more likely to be affected.
Bulb, Britain’s seventh-biggest energy supplier, is facing collapse within days amid eleventh-hour talks between the government and the company’s biggest secured creditor. Sky News has learnt that the company, which launched in 2015 and has amassed 1.7 million customers, is expected to appoint insolvency practitioners imminently. The precise timing remained unclear on Monday because of
The UK “feels like a branch line economy” in many areas after years of neglect in left-behind parts of the country, according to the head of the CBI. Tony Danker argues that the successful delivery of the government’s “levelling up” agenda will be determined by whether it delivers economic growth in every part of the
The Official Receiver is advancing a legal claim against the auditors of Carillion, the collapsed construction giant, that could target as much as £1bn in damages. Sky News understands that the liquidators of the former FTSE-100 constituent filed a claim form against KPMG on Friday – a move which gives the claimant four months to
Virgin Atlantic Airways is drawing up plans for a fresh £400m funding injection as prospects fade for an initial public offering (IPO) of Sir Richard Branson’s flagship company. Sky News has learnt that the transatlantic carrier is in talks with its shareholders and other financial stakeholders about raising additional capital to see it through the
Ian looks at the latest government borrowing figures – and discusses why they’re higher than expected. He talks to Nationwide as half-year profits more than double, and retail sales return to growth – as shoppers start their Christmas spending early. We also have the boss of advertising giant, Clear Channel, and the chief executive of
Ryanair has confirmed plans to abandon its London listing, in a move that will be seen as a post-Brexit snub to the UK’s financial centre. The no-frills carrier had said at the start of the month that it was considering the idea due to a fall in trading volumes of its shares on the London