Business

Apple shares slumped in after-hours trading – driven by disappointing iPhone sales in China and a warning that future revenues will fall well short of expectations on Wall Street. The gloomy market reaction overshadowed an otherwise strong financial performance in Apple’s first fiscal quarter. In the three months to 30 December, the tech giant reported

One of the members of the Bank of England’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee has voted for a cut in its base-level interest rate for the first time since the pandemic, as Britain’s central bank forecast that inflation could be down at its 2% target within a few months. The Bank opted to leave borrowing costs

In today’s episode, Ian King speaks with Dan Ives – managing director of the brokerage and advisory firm Wedbush Securities – to discuss Microsoft’s revenues and AI. Ian Johnston, global pharmaceutical correspondent at the Financial Times, discusses sales of popular weight loss drug ‘Wegvoy’, made by Novo Nordisk – as they say their sales almost

Facebook is 20 years old today. On 4 February 2004 Mark Zuckerberg launched ‘thefacebook.com’ from his Harvard dormitory. Two decades later, many users struggle to remember a time they weren’t scrolling through its news feed – or that of its social media sibling, Instagram. While allowing us to find long-lost friends and family, and supporting

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said Jeremy Hunt should not be planning to cut taxes any time soon. In what will be seen as a bombshell intervention ahead of this year’s election, the Fund, widely regarded as the world’s most authoritative economic body, said its analysts had advised the UK Treasury not to cut

The slow-motion collapse of Evergrande, the world’s most indebted company, entered what is likely to be its final stage on Monday when a Hong Kong court ordered its liquidation. The property developer, which has more than $300bn worth of liabilities, has been approaching this point ever since, in December 2021, it first missed a bond

A Hong Kong court has ordered the liquidation of China Evergrande, the real estate firm with more than $300bn (£236.1bn) of debts, amid deepening fears for the territory’s wider corporate health. Justice Linda Chan ruled Evergrande had been unable to offer a concrete restructuring plan to creditors – more than two years after defaulting on

A promise by the incoming National Lottery operator to slash the price of a ticket from £2 to £1 is under review. Allwyn has also said delayed plans for new draw-based games will impact sales and the amount of money it can give to good causes in the early part of its 10-year licence. The

Just three weeks into 2024, one of the most eye-catching developments in financial markets has been a surge in issuance of corporate debt – the activity by which companies raise money selling bonds to investors. According to data from London Stock Exchange Group, investment-grade companies have issued $153bn (£120bn) worth of bonds this month, the

An arm of one of China’s largest municipal governments is in talks to buy Stemcor, the historic British steel trading company. Sky News has learnt that a new company connected to Guangzhou Aerotropolis, which is located in the province of Guangdong, is in detailed negotiations with Stemcor’s lenders about a deal to take control of

On today’s show, we’ve got the latest reports about potential cutbacks at fund manager abrdn. Ian King speaks to Carina Namih, partner at Plural, about a new €400m (£342m) fund to back the next generation of start-ups. Yoko Spirig, co-founder and chief executive of Ledgy, discusses research showing almost three-quarters of UK tech companies would

The passing of the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill to its next stage is good news for Rishi Sunak.  MPs gave the bill a second reading by 293 votes to 211 on Monday evening, with the government securing a majority of 82. The prime minister is a man, remember, who said he wants to “max out”

Samsung will integrate Google’s generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology into its next generation of Galaxy smartphones. The South Korean firm unveiled the S24 series and boasted of an array of new features powered by AI on Wednesday. “We will reshape the technology landscape, we will open a new chapter without barriers to unleash your potential,”

It will be at least two years until any criminal charges are brought over the Post Office scandal, Britain’s most senior police officer has said. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has warned detectives will have to read “tens of millions of documents” to decide whether laws have been broken, and that will probably take

A plan to boost the security of critical imports has been revealed by the government following a host of disruptions to global supply chains. The Department for Business and Trade said it had been working with key industry groups for several weeks to identify products the country could not do without and should be “safeguarded”.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, an Indian pharmaceutical group, is in talks to buy Nicotinell, the anti-smoking aid, from its FTSE-100 parent company. Sky News has learnt that Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s has emerged as the frontrunner to acquire the brand from Haleon, the consumer healthcare giant spun out of GlaxoSmithKline two years ago. Sources described the talks

A supplier of heat pumps and other domestic energy technology to European consumers has secured more than £100m of new funding, weeks after pledging to create thousands of jobs in Britain. Sky News understands that Aira Group, which was established by the founder of prominent battery start-up Northvolt, will say on Tuesday that it has

Average house prices have jumped by about £4,500 this month – but experts are still predicting that 2024 will be a “smoother year” for buyers. According to Rightmove, the typical asking price for a British property now stands at £359,748, which is 0.7% lower compared with a year ago. The number of new houses coming

Burberry shares have fallen sharply after the luxury brand said it had failed to see the global pick-up in demand it had hoped for over the crucial Christmas season. The UK company, which has been seeking to move upmarket under a turnaround plan initiated by chief executive Jonathan Akeroyd, had previously warned on its annual

The City regulator is reviewing whether people could be owed compensation for being charged too much for car loans, following a high number of complaints on historic agreements. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it was a reaction to rising tensions between consumers and lenders over so-called discretionary commission arrangements across the motor finance market