Business

Shawbrook Group has kicked off initial talks with prospective investors in an initial public offering (IPO) of the business-focused lender, even as the City speculates about potential banking tax hikes in the November Budget. Sky News has learnt that Shawbrook and its advisers have been holding a series of pilot-fishing meetings this month as its…

NatWest Group is looking to offload Cushon, the workplace pensions provider it acquired only two years ago, as its chief executive refocuses one of Britain’s biggest high street banks on its core strategic priorities. Sky News has learnt that NatWest is working with advisers on a sale of Cushon, for which it paid £144m in…

Government borrowing last month was the highest in five years, official figures show, exacerbating the challenge facing Chancellor Rachel Reeves Not since 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic with the furlough scheme ongoing, was the August borrowing figure so high, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Money blog:…

A former boss of Centrica, the owner of British Gas, is among the candidates being considered to chair IP Group, the early-stage science investor. Sky News has learnt that Iain Conn, who spent a decade in senior roles at BP, is one of a small number of contenders to replace Sir Douglas Flint. City sources…

For the most part, when people think about the Bank of England and what it does to control the economy, they think about interest rates. And that’s quite understandable. After all, influencing inflation by raising or lowering the prevailing borrowing costs across the UK has been the Bank’s main tool for the vast majority of…

Meta has announced smart glasses with a screen in the right lens, meaning you can read WhatsApp messages, look at a map or translate a conversation – all from the comfort of your face. The company describes them as the world’s most advanced AI glasses, and it’s the first time it has put a display…

The US central bank has cut interest rates for the first time this year, in a move President Donald Trump will likely declare is long overdue. Mr Trump has demanded cuts to borrowing costs from the Federal Reserve ever since worries emerged in the world’s largest economy that his trade war would stoke US inflation….

The investor which swooped on WH Smith’s high street business earlier this year is in pole position to snap up the British operations of Claire’s, the accessories retailer which collapsed last month. Sky News has learnt that Modella Capital has agreed the outline of a deal with Claire’s new US-based owner, private equity firm Ames…

Some of the biggest US technology companies have pledged billions of pounds of investment to turbocharge Britain’s artificial intelligence (AI) industry, as the two countries announce a landmark technology deal. Nvidia, Microsoft, Open AI and Google made a flurry of announcements to coincide with President Trump‘s state visit to the UK. They include plans to…

The NHS will increase the amount it spends on medicines in response to criticism from pharmaceutical companies that the UK is becoming uncompetitive, science minister Lord Vallance has told MPs. Investments worth close to £2bn have been paused or cancelled this year by three of the world’s largest companies, Merck, AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly, amid…