UK Business News

M&S staff claim redundancy victory

The company has shelved proposals to cut the maximum payout available to staff made redundant by 25 per cent after workforce backlash

Supermarkets spell last orders for the pub

Retailers are to become the biggest sellers of beer as Britain’s pub industry feels the pressure of the economic downturn

• Case study: hard times for Britain’s pubs

• Consumers plan to slash spending across the board

New Star's profits fall as £1.1bn pulled out

John Duffield, the chairman of New Star Asset Management, said there was no end in sight to the torrid conditions on the market

• New Star cuts dividend as investors exit

• New Star announces junior staff cash bonuses

Sterling takes pounding on rate cut hopes

Pound slumps to near record low against the euro and its worst for 12-years against a basket of major currencies

World Business News

Alitalia in administration with €1bn debt

Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian PM, made the survival of Alitalia an election pledge and has brokered a deal to keep the airline flying

Passengers out of pocket as Zoom collapses

More than 40,000 passengers will lose millions of pounds in fares after the bankruptcy of the low-cost transatlantic airline

• Zoom case study: ‘they must have known’

• Zoom Q&A: Will I get my money back?

Lehman Brothers prepares to cut 1,200 jobs

US investment bank makes fourth round of redundancies, bringing total staff losses to 6,400 since June last year

• KKR favourite to bid for key Lehman business

• Lehman Brothers payout for top staff

Square Enix makes surprise bid for Tecmo

Final Fantasy game maker's bid for rival may start consolidation in the Japan market as Nintendo upgrades forecast

Analysis

B&B was so close to the edge

The bank came close to becoming a second Northern Rock as it admitted that customers were rushing to pull out their savings in July

• Tricky task of putting price on Titian

You get what you pay for and that includes service

Most experts concentrate on analysing commercial excellence, but it would be more useful if they focused on crap companies

Melrose ... Regus Group ... Evolution Group

Melrose launches tender ... Regis moves head office offshore ... Evolution Group limits fall in first-half profits

Money 

Lenders rake in millions in fees

Mortgage lenders have been accused of employing underhand moves to boost their profit margins – tripling their loan fees

• We need mortgage providers other than banks

• Lenders launch price war to lure new borrowers

It's an uphill struggle for remortgage candidates

We continue our series charting the progress of three families searching for new home loans

• How to remortgage as approvals tumble

• Councils' competitive mortgages call

Mortgage market 'to shrink by a fifth'

Analyst claims lending will fall by 20 per cent by the end of 2008, with borrowers yet to feel full impact

Law 

Barbie defeats Bratz in $100m lawsuit

Mattel, the world's biggest toy maker, has won its legal dispute against the manufacturer of the popular rival dolls

• Barbie maker Mattel lays claim to rival Bratz

• Mothers boycott ‘sexualised’ toys

Rushdie wins apology from ex-bodyguard

Claims of the Booker Prize-winning author's behaviour while under police protection were 'complete lies', a court heard

• Rushdie in court to settle libel case

• Rushdie owes it all to his Mum

Lawyers make billions but good times are ending

CBI issues bleak assessment of trading prospects in services sector after a record year for profits for corporate lawyers

business travel 

Profile: Martin Dove, Merchants

"I’ll always watch half a film and can never remember what I’ve seen," says the boss of the call centre consultancy

Business class: 30 years in review

The Times Archive gives an intriguing glimpse of the changing face of business class since the cabin was first introduced three decades ago

No such thing as a free lunch for US business travellers

United Airlines to replace free meals with snackboxes for its domestic business class passengers

• Why your airfare is different from your neighbours

• The end of laptop rage at security