Falling clothes sales at Marks & Spencer have dragged down the retail giant's annual profits to an eight-year low, as it said the executive behind the �Your M&S� branding is to step down.

The Bank of Japan kept its monetary settings on hold on Wednesday, judging that the huge stimulus unveiled in April will be enough to spur price gains in the world's third-largest economy.

Britain will be advised to sell off the state's holdings in the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Bank by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a move that will embolden George Osborne as he attempts to justify his economic strategy.

The annual rate of inflation eased to 2.4 per cent last month, thanks to falls in petrol prices and air fares, the Office for National Statistics reported yesterday.

LONDON�The storm brewing over Apple Inc.'s tax practices in the U.S. has already rained down hard in the U.K., where multinationals including Starbucks Corp.

The taxman had expected to save �8bn by 2015 from reducing errors and fraud in the administration of tax credits, but is expected to miss its target by �5bn.

Royal Mail unveiled a big jump in profits to �440million today as it took another step towards privatisation and a �3billion stock market flotation later this year.

Fiat Industrial aims to move its tax residency to the UK from Italy after a merger with US business CNH to take advantage of a lighter fiscal regime, according to a regulatory filing.

The car dealership group - which was established in 2006 with the aim of consolidating the fragmented automotive retail sector - has agreed to pay Co-operative Group Motors �31m cash for Albert Farnell Ltd, a 65-year-old Yorkshire-based business mainly ...

Paragon Group continued to prosper by snapping up unwanted loan portfolios from big banks and the boom in buy-to-let loans as the specialist lender reported a rise in half-year pre-tax profits.