Business and Finance

UK taxpayers are to forfeit more than £600m from the cancellation of bank dividends as regulators instruct Britain's biggest lenders to conserve capital amid the coronavirus crisis.

The Japanese car giant Nissan has left British suppliers in the lurch by delaying crucial payments, exacerbating the cashflow strain being felt in the UK's battered automotive sector.

A total of 4,500 high street jobs are hanging by a thread after BrightHouse, the rent-to-own retailer, and restaurant chain Carluccio's filed for administration.

EasyJet has grounded its entire fleet of aircraft due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The cost of Brent crude oil has hit its lowest level since November 2002 as financial markets eye deepening economic damage from the coronavirus crisis.

Retailers are fighting a rearguard action to keep their logistics operations functioning after Next pulled the plug on its distribution centres, citing employees' concerns about the risk of contracting coronavirus.

Convenience stores should keep on selling Easter eggs during the coronavirus lockdown and ignore "overzealous" attempts to stop them, a trade body has said.

The banking industry has warned of a surge in so-called "smishing" scams as criminals try to exploit the coronavirus pandemic.

The Mercedes F1 team has helped develop a breathing aid to keep coronavirus patients out of intensive care, with a host of other rival teams having pitched in to provide UK hospitals with thousands of extra ventilators.

The NHS has enlisted easyJet and Virgin Atlantic to help staff the new Nightingale hospitals being built to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.