Business

The sportswear tycoon Dave Whelan is heading for a showdown with landlords over plans for an overhaul of his Fitness First gyms empire that would involve site closures and steep rent cuts. Sky News has learnt that Mr Whelan, best-known as the former owner of Wigan Athletic Football Club, is working with advisers on a

Manchester United could become the most expensive sports team in the world, after a Qatari businessman entered a record-breaking offer as the bidding window slammed closed. Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad, who chairs the Qatar Islamic Bank, submitted his final offer for the club on Friday, Sky News understands, with the figure offered thought to be

The fashion retailer Superdry is in advanced talks about a near-£15m share sale as it races to shore up its balance sheet amid tough trading conditions. Sky News has learnt that the chain, headed by founder Julian Dunkerton, could unveil a cash call as soon as next week after discussions with City investors. The move

For some time now, the City has been doing some soul-searching over its future. There was a lot of speculation around the time of Brexit that, deprived of the “passport” that enabled UK-based firms to do business in the EU without having permission from each individual country regulator, there would be heavy job losses in

NatWest has beaten expectations by recording a pre-tax profit of £1.8bn in the first three months of the year. This is well ahead of forecasts by analysts of £1.6bn for the quarter and higher than the £1.2bn recorded this time last year. It follows rival bank Barclays posting a better-than-expected profit and its largest in

The world’s largest economy slowed sharply in the first quarter of the year, according to the first official estimate which has raised fears of recession ahead. Growth was measured at an annualised rate of 1.1% between January and March, the Commerce Department said. Economists had been expecting a figure of 2%. The slump followed growth

Sainsbury’s has reported a fall in its pre-tax profit, as it reveals it has spent more than £560m on “keeping our prices low over the last two years”. The supermarket chain said that in the year ending 4 March, its group sales were up 5.4% to £35.15bn, but underlying profit before tax was £690m –

The British competition watchdog has blocked Microsoft’s bid to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stopped the $68.7bn (£55bn) deal due to concerns that it would stifle competition in the cloud gaming market. In its final report on Wednesday, the CMA said that the move was “the only effective

Amazon could be forced to recognise a trade union in the UK for the first time. GMB union says almost 700 Amazon workers in Coventry are now members. It said this number is more than half of the workers at the site, the usual threshold for mandatory union recognition in a workplace. It comes after

The City of London’s governing body has delivered a fresh hit to the CBI, saying it had joined the ranks of those suspending their membership of the scandal-hit business lobby group. The City of London Corporation took its decision 24 hours after Britain’s largest employers’ group moved to help restore confidence following a string of

The chancellor has blamed the “eye-watering sums” spent on helping people through the coronavirus pandemic and energy crisis for an increase in public sector borrowing. Public sector net borrowing was £21.5bn last month – the second-highest March borrowing since monthly records began in 1993. This means that the public sector spent more than it received

The president of the CBI has admitted he does not know if it can win back trust while setting out how it plans to bolster its culture amid the sexual misconduct scandal engulfing the business lobby group. Brian McBride made his remark in an open letter to members that set out its response to the

The average price of a home coming to market this month rose by just 0.2% to £366,247, according to data from Rightmove. This was lower than the average increase of 1.2% for this time of year. It showed that many new sellers are “taking note of the economic headwinds and the transitioning of the housing

The senior independent director of Britain’s biggest tobacco company is to take the same role at THG, the online retailer behind Cult Beauty, as it holds talks about a bid to take it private. Sky News understands that THG will announce on Monday that Sue Farr, a former advertising executive, is joining its board. Ms

Some of Britain’s biggest companies are this weekend scrambling to fill the void left by the crisis at the CBI as they consider backing a new body being set up after talks with Conservative and Labour officials. Sky News has learnt that businesses from across a range of sectors including banking, insurance, retail and telecoms

A British company believes sewage could provide the solution to the UK’s salad supply shortages as a huge rise in wholesale gas prises has impacted growers. Oasthouse Ventures has huge greenhouses in Bury St Edmunds and Norwich which extract heat from the sewage at local treatment works, transferring it to heat pumps at their sites.

A flood of companies announced they were either leaving the CBI or suspending their membership after a series of allegations of sexual misconduct against staff. The rush for the exit door came after the Guardian newspaper reported that a second woman had made a rape allegation – against two male CBI co-workers. Here are some

If one were to compile a list of some of the most prestigious blue-chip UK employers, it would probably include NatWest, BP, Shell, Aviva, the John Lewis Partnership, Virgin Media O2, WPP, Phoenix Group, BT, PwC, EY, Schroders and AstraZeneca. Were that list to be enhanced with prestigious foreign-owned businesses that are major employers in

A dip in retail sales last month could be mainly explained by a hit of poor weather, according to experts. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said retail sales volumes fell by 0.9% in March – the first month on month decline of the year to date and worse than the 0.5% decline forecast by

The scandal-hit CBI, Britain’s biggest employers’ group, says it has passed fresh information to the police relating to a report of a “serious criminal offence”. The body said it was “liaising closely” with officers as it remains mired by allegations of historic workplace misconduct. They culminated in chief executive Tony Danker being sacked earlier this