Business

The German automotive giant BMW is in talks with the government about a £75m funding package that would secure production of electric Minis at its Oxfordshire plant. Sky News has learnt that BMW is negotiating with officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) over a grant from Whitehall’s Automotive Transformation Fund.

Netflix has said that updated measures to crack down on password sharing were posted by mistake. Following widespread disappointment on social media, with many threatening to cancel their memberships, the streaming giant claimed some new account rules being trialled in other countries had accidentally been added to its help pages elsewhere. While subscribers have been

Elon Musk did not deceive his investors when he tweeted in 2018 that he had the funding to take Tesla private, a jury has found. Investors had sought to sue the SpaceX owner for billions of dollars because his tweet caused Tesla’s shares to soar, only to crash 10 days later when it became clear

London’s FTSE 100 Index has reached an all-time high at 7905 earlier this afternoon. The Financial Times Stock Exchange index of the 100 most valuable companies on the London stock exchange beat the previous record of 7,903.5 set in May 2018. It comes as central banks – including the Bank of England and the US

The energy regulator Ofgem has asked suppliers to suspend the forced installation of prepayment meters and review their processes for dealing with customers who have fallen into arrears. Sky News understands the regulator made the request on Thursday after it was revealed that debt collectors working for British Gas had forced their way into the

The business secretary, Grant Shapps, has told British Steel’s Chinese owner that proposals to make hundreds of workers redundant are “unhelpful” amid negotiations over a £300m taxpayer support package. Sky News understands that Mr Shapps wrote to Li Huiming, Jingye Group’s chief executive, this week prior to the public disclosure of its plans to axe

The head of markets at the National Grid Electricity System Operator has told Sky News that its new energy saving scheme “is likely how we’re all going to operate in the future.” The new Demand Flexibility Service, which allows consumers to volunteer to use less electricity at times of peak demand to help avoid blackouts,

The US central bank has slowed the pace of interest rate hikes further but indicated more rises are likely despite official figures suggesting price pressures have peaked in the world’s largest economy. The Federal Reserve revealed its verdict hours before counterparts in the UK and Europe made their next moves in the battle against inflation

Britain’s second-biggest steel producer has been drawing up secret plans to axe hundreds of jobs even as it continues talks with ministers about £300m of taxpayer funding that would partly depend on decade-long employment guarantees. Sky News has learnt that British Steel has been discussing launching a consultation on around 800 redundancies, principally focused on

The Treasury has revealed proposals to regulate cryptocurrency, following widespread calls for action after the spectacular collapse of one of the world’s largest trading exchanges. Promising a “robust” approach to digital assets consistent with traditional finance, the government says it wants exchanges to have fairer and tighter standards. Under the plans, crypto platforms would become

Tesco is poised to snap up the Paperchase brand in a surprise swoop that will cast a shadow over hundreds of high street jobs. Sky News has learnt that Britain’s biggest supermarket chain is in advanced talks about buying Paperchase’s name and other intellectual property through a pre-pack administration that could take place as early

Support for trade unions is rising even though strike action is bringing public services to a standstill , Sky News polling shows. Industrial relations are at their most fractious since the 1980s, with the country having lost more than a million working days to strikes last year. Despite this, sympathy for striking public sector workers

Ryanair reported record after-tax profits of €211m (£185m) in the Christmas season from October to December. The budget airline continued to perform better than its pre-COVID years as pent-up demand during October half-terms and Christmas and New Year breaks resulted in “strong” passenger numbers and fares across the board. Passenger numbers rose to 38.4 million

Flybe is a smaller, less significant business than when it collapsed for the first time in March 2020, but a second failure in three years raises questions not just for prospective owners, but the connectivity of the UK. Three years ago the failure of what was then Europe’s largest regional airline was blamed on the

The first “blank cheque” company to list in London after an overhaul aimed at helping the City compete with rival financial centres is in talks to merge with a privately owned drugs group developing treatments for chronic diseases. Sky News has learnt that Hambro Perks Acquisition Company (HPAC) is in advanced negotiations about a deal,

After Flybe went into administration on Saturday, many travellers will be out of pocket having bought tickets, while others are stranded in their outbound destination. Flybe has told its passengers to “not travel to the airport” unless they have arranged alternative flights with another airline. What are passengers’ rights if your flight is cancelled? Flybe

Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, is closing in on a multibillion pound deal with Britain’s biggest housebuilders to help resolve the national cladding crisis exposed by the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster. Sky News has learnt that major companies including Barratt Developments and Persimmon are preparing for the imminent signing of a legally binding contract

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has dismissed economic “gloom” in a major speech today as he promised to use “Brexit freedoms” to increase growth and productivity in the UK. Speaking at Bloomberg’s European headquarters in London, he attacked “declinism”, instead saying the country was “poised to play a leading role in Europe and across the world in

Asda’s owners have revealed a planned shake-up that places hundreds of jobs at risk and will see thousands moved to lower-paid roles. The UK’s third-largest grocery chain by market share said its changes were the result of an “efficiency” drive but they were met with stinging criticism by the GMB union. The company has proposed

Royal Mail’s parent firm has raised its estimate for the cost of industrial action so far to £200m and claimed that up to 12,500 union members have worked on strike days. International Distributions Services (IDS) said 18 days of walkouts at Royal Mail helped push the division to a £295m operating loss in the first