Business

The possibility of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine has caused wholesale energy bills to fall in recent weeks but household bills will still be going up from April. Consumers will be paying for the winter months. Europe endured a cold and still winter, meaning demand for energy increased while countries were less able

Inflation is rising faster than expected but the latest data is unlikely to shift the Bank of England’s stance on interest rates. The headline rate of inflation hit 3% in January, up from 2.5% the previous month and higher than the 2.8% forecast by economists and the Bank of England. It’s expected to go even

Yes there are all sorts of provisos. The UK economy is still flatlining. A 0.1% expansion is about as close as you can get to zero. Gross domestic product per head – a better measure of our living standards – is shrinking (indeed, it’s been shrinking for two quarters). And the UK remains far weaker

The city of Hangzhou in southern China is one of the country’s leading technology hubs, and home to the groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) company DeepSeek. Think of Hangzhou as a Chinese version of Silicon Valley. The headquarters of DeepSeek is on the twelfth floor of a modern office building. Image: The headquarters of DeepSeek are

A group led by Elon Musk has made a $97.4bn (£78.7bn) bid to buy OpenAI just months after the X owner sued the artificial intelligence start-up. Mr Musk co-founded OpenAI with its current chief executive Sam Altman in 2015, but left before the company took off after it released ChatGPT in late 2022. Initially launched

British wholesale gas prices have reached a more than two-year high, risking yet more expensive energy bills. Low rates of gas storage in Britain and across Europe, combined with cold weather, have increased demand for gas to heat homes. It’s brought the price up to 140 pence a therm (a unit of heat used to

The contribution to energy bills from a government deal with a biomass electricity provider will fall in the coming years as subsidies are cut under a new agreement. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) revealed consumers would save £170m per year under a new deal with Drax covering 2027-2031. That projection is

Purplebricks, the online estate agent owned by Sir Charles Dunstone, one of Britain’s most prolific entrepreneurs, has parachuted in an interim chief executive 18 months after it delisted from the London stock market. Sky News has learnt that shareholders in Strike, Purplebricks’ parent company, were notified this week that Stuart Bartlett, a former automotive industry

The government is spending £22bn on “unproven” technologies which will have a “very significant effect” on energy bills, according to an influential committee of MPs. There has been no assessment of whether the programme to capture and store carbon from the atmosphere is affordable for billpayers, said a report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)

The head of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has effectively been forced out of the role after losing the confidence of its board amid growing government pressure on economic watchdogs. Sky News understands that Abby Thomas, whose departure was announced earlier on Thursday, was at the centre of several disputes with fellow directors over issues

KKR, one of the world’s biggest private equity investors, is advancing plans to play a crucial role in a rescue of Britain’s biggest water supplier. Sky News has learnt that KKR, which manages assets of more than $600bn, has hired investment bankers and lawyers to help formulate a plan to inject billions of pounds of

President Donald Trump has been threatening increased tariffs on China for months and now he says he’s delivering it. Trump has said nothing can delay these tariffs, and for China that means an extra 10% slapped on to the cost of its exports. For China’s government, this is all part of the great game of

A group of technology billionaires including the bosses of Google and Microsoft have triumphed in an auction of the Lords-based London Spirit team in a deal which will set a record benchmark for the sale of a sporting franchise. Sky News can exclusively reveal that the consortium led by Nikesh Arora, the chief executive of

Trouva, an online marketplace for fashion boutiques, is calling a halt to trading while it explores its fourth sale in less than three years. Sky News understands that the current owners of Trouva, which was founded in 2013, are working with the accountancy firm RSM to find a buyer. Trouva is now owned by Project

Every Thursday, our Money blog team interviews chefs from around the UK, hearing about their cheap food hacks and more. This week, we chat to Phil Kearsey, executive chef at the London-institution and Michelin-starred Pied à Terre. A top tip for amateur chefs is… acidity is a seasoning! Just like salt and pepper, citrus or

Marshmallow, the British insurance unicorn, is close to finalising a new capital injection valuing it at more than £1.5bn, despite the difficult funding environment facing many technology companies. Sky News has learnt that Marshmallow is in advanced talks to secure tens of millions of pounds in its first major equity fundraising in more than three

US tech firms exposed to big artificial intelligence (AI) investments are seeing their shares take a hammering over the emergence of a low-cost Chinese competitor. The likes of Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Alphabet all saw their stocks come under pressure as investors questioned whether their share prices, already widely viewed as overblown following an

Part-owners of Chelsea and Manchester United football clubs are among a quartet of finalists vying to buy a big stake in London Spirit, the most prestigious franchise in English cricket’s Hundred competition. Sky News has learnt that a vehicle controlled by Todd Boehly, a shareholder in Chelsea, and members of the Manchester United-owning Glazer family

The Treasury borrowed more than expected last month to record the highest December sum for four years, official figures have shown, with higher debt interest payments adding to the bill. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a net borrowing figure for December of £17.8bn when a sum just above £14bn had been expected by

Secret Escapes, the online travel platform, has hired bankers to explore a sale nearly 15 years after its launch. Sky News has learnt that Secret Escapes has appointed the investment bank Arma Partners to oversee an auction of the company. Sources close to a number of potential bidders said on Monday that the process was