Business

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The bulk of British Steel’s 4,000 staff work at the Scunthorpe plant The sale of British Steel to Chinese firm Jingye could be scuppered by French intervention, media reports say. Jingye agreed in November to buy the collapsed business for £50m and save about 4,000 jobs. However, the approval of […]

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Bank’s interest rate announcement came at midday The City watchdog is to investigate a jump in the pound which took place shortly before the Bank of England’s interest rate announcement on Thursday. The rise has raised questions over whether the decision to hold the Bank’s base rate at

Image copyright Reuters Struggling luxury UK carmaker Aston Martin has announced plans to raise emergency funding worth £500m. A consortium led by billionaire Lawrence Stroll will put in £182m, with the rest coming from issuing fresh shares to existing investors. Mr Stroll partly owns the Racing Point Formula 1 team, which will be branded Aston

Image copyright AFP A major investor in leading e-cigarette-maker Juul has seen its stake in the company drop by more than two-thirds. Tobacco giant Altria Group has blamed the $8.5bn (£6.5bn) fall in value on rising legal and regulatory threats. Having paid $12.8bn for a 35% stake in Juul in 2018, it revealed a huge

Image copyright Getty Images US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross has said the deadly coronavirus outbreak in China could be positive for the American economy. During a TV interview Mr Ross said: “I think it will help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America”. The rapid spread of the disease has raised fears about

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Romans developed tourism in Britain, with the baths they built in the city of Bath remaining popular with tourists to this day UK Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan has probably not previously been compared to ancient Roman writer Pliny the Younger. But they have one major thing in common

Image copyright Siemens/ PA Image caption A proposed design for an HS2 train The government’s official review into HS2 “strongly advises against cancelling” the project, the BBC can reveal. It also says only building one section of the line which will link southern and northern England “doesn’t make sense”. The BBC has read the full

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Car manufacturers are worried The UK’s biggest manufacturing lobby groups are calling for more clarity as efforts to establish a new post-Brexit trading relationship gather pace. Yesterday, ahead of Britain’s departure from the EU on Friday, representatives of business organisations met the senior cabinet minister Michael Gove to express

Image copyright PA Media US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said his country will help the UK reduce risks associated with involving Huawei in its 5G network. He said officials would work together to “get this right” after the UK’s decision to give the Chinese firm a limited role in building its system. Mr

Image copyright Getty Images Amazon sales soared over the Christmas season, rising 21% from the prior year, in sharp contrast to weakness reported by other retailers. The e-commerce juggernaut said it earned $87bn (£66bn) in sales in the last three months of the year, well ahead of analyst expectations. Its cloud services division, a key