Business

The new owner of WH Smith’s high street empire and the saviour of HMV are racing to salvage a future of Claire’s, the accessories retailer which slumped into administration last month, putting thousands of jobs at risk. Sky News has learnt that Modella Capital, which is to rebrand hundreds of WH Smith shops under the…

The investment minister appointed by Sir Keir Starmer less than a year ago is to quit her role, dealing a fresh blow to the government’s fledgling industrial strategy. Sky News can exclusively reveal that Baroness Gustafsson of Chesterton, the former boss of cybersecurity firm Darktrace, intends to relinquish her ministerial role after just 11 months….

The world’s richest man could be in line for a roughly $1trn pay award. Elon Musk‘s electric car company, Tesla, is trying to pay him about $1trn over the next decade. Money blog: UK airport ranked worst for fourth year in a row Under the proposal, Mr Musk would receive no salary or bonus but…

Retail sales rose a surprising amount in July, as good weather and the Women’s Euros led people to part with their cash, official figures show. The amount of spending rose 0.6% in July, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), far above the 0.2% rise anticipated by economists polled by Reuters. In…

A company which collects royalties on behalf of Hollywood studios including The Walt Disney Company and Amazon-owned MGM is being put up for sale in an auction expected to fetch hundreds of millions of pounds. Sky News has learnt that Motion Picture Licensing Company (MPLC), which is backed by private equity investors, is working with…

The head of Britain’s main banking lobby group has warned the chancellor against a budget raid on the industry, arguing that it would undermine her aim of delivering sustainable economic growth. In a letter to Rachel Reeves seen by Sky News, David Postings, the chief executive of UK Finance, said renewed speculation about increases to…

Beauty chain Lush has shut its UK shops, website and factories in protest at the Israeli government “preventing urgent humanitarian assistance from entering Gaza”. In a statement, the firm said more action was also needed by the British government “to bring an immediate stop to the death and destruction, including an end to arms sales…

Angela Rayner’s explanation for her failure to pay the correct stamp duty on her home in Hove rests on a claim that she was wrongly advised about her tax exposure when buying the property earlier this year. Following media reports that she had avoided tax of up to £40,000 she took fresh advice and now…

More than a thousand high street jobs will be put at risk this week when Bodycare, the health and beauty retailer, is forced to call in administrators. Sky News has learnt that Bodycare, which was founded on a Lancashire market stall more than half a century ago, is expected to appoint administrators from Interpath Advisory…

A US federal judge has ordered a major makeover of Google’s search engine in a crackdown aimed at addressing the damaging effects of monopolistic practices. In an effort to curb Google’s influence, Washington DC Judge Amit Mehta has introduced new limitations on how the company directs traffic to its search engine. He is requiring the…