ECONOMY

The FTSE 100 will open at 8am. Among UK companies with reports and updates are Cineworld Group, Persimmon, Plus500, Gattaca, Balfour Beatty and GSK. Read the Wednesday 17 August Business Live blog below.> If you are using our app or…

My disabled sister is 78 and has been in poor health for a while.She was worried I would not be able to afford a proper funeral for her if she died before me, so took out a pre-paid funeral plan with Safe Hands about eight years ago.As she…

Shares in First Group hit the buffers as its private equity suitor abandoned plans to buy the train and bus operator.The stock fell 11.4 per cent, or 14.7p, to 114.2p after Miami-based private equity group I Squared walked away having seen…

The crisis in the water industry has thrust some of Britain’s leading female executives into the spotlight.That is because – unlike in many other areas of business where men continue to rule the roost – the sector is largely run by women.Of…

The exiled founder of Ted Baker is plotting a new venture in the fashion world as his brand is about to be sold to an American business for £211million.Ray Kelvin, who set up the fashion brand in Glasgow in 1998 and still owns an 11.5 per…

Aldi is poised to join the ranks of the Big Four supermarkets, eclipsing Morrisons.The German discounter held a 9.1pc share of the grocery market in the three months to August 7, up from 8.2 per cent last year, as cost-conscious customers…

Sage has bought a Seattle-based tech firm as it seeks to expand.The FTSE 100 software group has snapped up Lockstep – which provides products and services to help firms streamline their accounting processes – for an undisclosed sum.The…

Shares in Darktrace soared following a swoop from US private equity predators.Cambridge-based Darktrace revealed it is in discussions with buyout group Thoma Bravo about a cash offer.The American business has until September 12 to either…

The collapse of Blackmore Bond, gobbling up £46million of the savings of ordinary citizens, may not rank in the first division of financial scandals.Investors, lured in by the promise of 10 per cent returns when Bank of England rates stood…

HMRC is hiking interest rates on unpaid tax to a 13-year high of 4.25 per cent— six times the rate paid on money it owes.This is a 1.5 percentage point increase since the start of 2022, when its late-payment fee was 2.75 per…