Business News Articles

Vodafone increases stake in Vodacom
Vodafone have purchased a 15% stake in South Africa's largest mobile phone operator, Vodacom. The deal is worth £1.4bn and when finalised next year will take Vodafone's share in the South African company up to 65%. "Africa is the place that we are looking at and to make Vodacom the investment vehicle for any expansion is the most important step that we have taken," said Morten Lundal, Vodaf... more

3i records loss on assets
The UK's largest private equity firm, 3i, has recorded a negative return on investments as the economic crisis has eroded the value of the firm's assets. The private equity firm saw its return to shareholders for the first six months of the year come in at a loss of £182m, compared to a profit of £512m in the same period last year. This is the first time in over five years that the firm ha... more

Proposal to stop businesses recovering legal defence costs
Companies and business owners cleared of criminal charges could be barred from recovering defence costs under a government proposal to curb taxpayer-funded legal spending. The ministry of justice is considering whether the public should subsidise legal fees of defendants that hire high price lawyers rather than solicitors who work on legal aid rates. The changes could lead to businesses that... more

New car sales suffer record decline
New car sales in the UK have fallen at the fastest rate for 17 years, according to a report by The Society of Motor Manufacturers (SMMT). New car registrations fell by 23% to 128,352 units in October, the largest drop the industry has experienced since 1991. This is the fifth consecutive month that news car sales have fallen, and the report also revealed that throughout 2008 1.9m new cars ha... more

Business partnership for Oxford Entrepreneurial society
Oxford Entrepreneurs, the biggest student society at the University, have announced a partnership with venture capital companyOctopus Ventures. Members of the venture capital company, which is aimed at early stage and growth businesses, will sit on the society's advisory board, will lead workshops for its members and participate in judging the annual entreperenurial competition. The deal wil... more

Google abandons partnership with Yahoo
Search engine giant Google has abandoned its search advertising partnership with Yahoo because of an antitrust lawsuit due to be filed by the American justice department. Yahoo and Google began an experiment of placing Google ads within some of Yahoo’s search results in April this year. Yahoo announced that the tie-in with Google would be worth $800m annually and would generate between £2... more

Pressure on banks to cut rates
The government has called on banks to pass on the full 1.5% interest rate cut to business borrowers and homeowners. The impact of the Bank of England’s decision to cut rates by such an unexpected amount will be limited if banks fail to pass on the cut to customers, but so far only Lloyds TSB and Abbey have said they will do this. ... more

UK energy bills rising at double the European average
Gas and electricity bills in the UK are rising at more than twice the rate experienced in the rest of Europe. The Organisation for Economic Development (OECD) has reported that energy prices in Britain have increased by 29% in the last year, more than double the European average. "The UK energy consumer is being clobbered faster and harder than those in Europe," said Ed Mayo, the chief execu... more

Job vacancies at lowest level for a decade
Job vacancies and appointments have fallen to their lowest levels for over a decade, according to a survey of more than 400 recruitment and employment consultancies. The survey was conducted by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and consultants KPMG and found that job vacancies are at their lowest levels since 1997. “The terrible news from the equity markets and the broader... more

Bank of England cuts base rates by 1.5%
The Bank of England has slashed interest rates to 3% in a surprise move to revive the UK economy. Many analysts had been predicting a 0.5% cut with business groups calling for a 1% fall in rates. ... more