Taxpayers 'lost £1bn' on Royal Mail sale, MPs say

Taxpayers may have lost out on about £1bn from the undervaluing of Royal Mail, a committee of MPs has said.

Nestlé agrees to pay all employees living wage

Food giant Nestlé has become the first leading manufacturer to commit to paying the living wage. The firm already pays at least the living wage to its 8,000 staff but the move will benefit contract employees and agency workers.

Vince Cable rebuts claim government massively undervalued Royal Mail

Vince Cable has continued to contest claims that the government significantly undervalued Royal Mail, costing taxpayers £750m on the day of the postal service was privatised in October.

RBS cleared of forcing clients into insolvency to buy up assets

Royal Bank of Scotland has been cleared of deliberately engineering the collapse of some of its business customers, but has decided to sell off the £3.2bn commercial property portfolio at the centre of the row.

Barclays blasted over 'catastrophic' theft of thousands of customer files

Barclays is under scrutiny by regulators and could face a hefty fine after thousands of confidential files on customers were stolen in a data breach described as catastrophic by an adviser to the business secretary, Vince Cable.

Labour attacks 'botched' privatisation of Royal Mail

Labour has accused the government of botching the privatisation of Royal Mail, saying taxpayers have been short-changed by hundreds of millions of pounds.

Royal Mail's FTSE 100 debut sparks profit-taking by shares investors

Royal Mail has been a spectacular stock market performer since its flotation in October, but its debut in the FTSE 100 yesterday was an excuse for investors to cash in some of their gains.

Royal Mail Operating Profit Almost Doubles

LONDON — Royal Mail said rising parcel revenue and ongoing cost cuts helped the newly-privatised postal operator almost double its operating profit in the first half of the year.

Royal Mail shares: Vince Cable defends flotation price as shares hit 500p

Vince Cable has written to MPs to defend the pricing of the Royal Mail flotation as shares in the postal service closed above 500p at the end of their first full week of trading, representing a paper profit of 52% for investors.

Royal Mail shares begin full trading on stock market

Shares in Royal Mail have risen to 479.50p on the company's first day of full trading on the stock exchange.

McDonald's ties nine out of 10 workers to zero-hours contracts

McDonald's has emerged as potentially the biggest zero-hours employer in the private sector after admitting that it employs 90% of its entire workforce in Britain, or 82,800 staff, on the controversial terms.

UK car production on track to overtake France by 2018

LONDON: Britain may overtake France as Europe's second largest automotive producer within the next five years if UK car sales and exports maintain current strong growth, industry executives said on Thursday.

BP to go ahead with $500 million Shetlands investment

LONDON (Reuters) - British oil group BP is pressing ahead with a $500 million-plus investment in the Shetland Islands, a shot in the arm for the government's efforts to revive the North Sea oil industry to help kickstart a flagging economy.

Honda to cut 800 jobs in Swindon

Honda is planning to cut 800 jobs at its Swindon plant, blaming weak demand across Europe. The Japanese carmaker, which began manufacturing there in 1992, has been hard hit by the eurozone crisis.

Kay Review: Government to be more active on takeovers

The government says it will take "a greater interest" in mergers and acquisitions involving UK companies as part of its response to the Kay Review. Its comments came in response to the Kay Review into how to discourage short-termism in markets.

Vince Cable attacks corporate 'tax abuse'

Business Secretary Vince Cable has condemned corporate tax avoidance as "completely unacceptable", saying there are "appalling stories of abuse".