The shares tumbled 20.5pc to 177.9p as the group, which has almost �2bn of net debt, announced the rights issue alongside its full year results on Monday, which showed that pre-tax profits plunged 87pc to �37.2m last year.

Households are facing a continued squeeze on their spending power after a leading forecaster warned that high inflation was here to stay.

Big name chain failures push up shopping centre and retail park store closures, with almost one-in-eight UK shopfronts now empty. 9:39am UK, Monday 20 May 2013.

Irish airline Ryanair has unveiled a 13 per cent jump in annual profits but said the recession across much of Europe will dampen growth this year.

Marks & Spencer has become the latest in a string of UK companies to face criticism from tax campaigners over the way it structures its online sales to Europe - with one describing its sales operation as similar to that of the internet retail giant Amazon.

Some of Britain's most successful and eminent business leaders have accused Eurosceptic MPs of putting �politics before economics� and abandoning the national interest in their calls for Britain to leave the European Union.

Not quite a year after arriving at Yahoo! from Google, chief executive Marissa Mayer has apparently persuaded her board to approve the purchase of Tumblr - the go-to website for legions of young bloggers and internet sharers - for $1.1bn in cash, despite it ...

... Off. � UK business chiefs say 'we need to stay in EU' � Sir Mervyn King: stop 'demonising' bankers � Inflation 'may hamper Carney', warns ITEM Club � Yahoo agrees to buy Tumblr for $1.1bn � FirstGroup launches rights issue as profits crash � Google chief ...

In a further indication that activity is lifting, Rightmove said traffic levels to its website have risen by more than one fifth compared with a year ago, with property hunters getting through 1.25 billion pages in April, which is a record for the website.

Tesco announced yesterday that it is expanding the scope of its F&F offer internationally with two new franchise deals that will see the brand becoming available in stores across parts of the Middle East and central Asia.