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, as it faced a significant turnaround job in both its UK bus and American ...

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.

Discount airline Ryanair has reported record full-year profits and rising revenues, despite soaring fuel costs. Profits after tax rose 13% to 569m euros (�481m) on revenues of 4.88bn euros for the year to 31 March.

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.

Marissa Mayer, the former Google executive who is now in charge of Yahoo, is poised to create yet another nothing-to-riches tale in the web industry with the $1.1bn (�720m) acquisition of the blogging site Tumblr.