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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 ...

A former Google employee has said he is providing evidence to the tax authorities about how the internet giant avoided paying corporation tax in Britain by using its offices in Dublin to finalise deals.

House prices have shot up so far that buyers must earn more than �62,000 - twice the UK's average salary - to afford the average asking price of quarter of a million pounds.