Sky News has learnt that the company, which owns the giant Scunthorpe steelworks in the north of England, has struck a deal to secure £90m of debt funding from US-based White Oak Global Advisors.

A £775m pot of cash has been made available by Royal Bank of Scotland to boost competition in small business banking.

The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that one provider had reduced cover to the struggling department store chain's suppliers while two others had withdrawn cover to some new shipments completely.

The world's second-largest economy said gross domestic product (GDP) rose at an annual rate of 6.7% in the second quarter of 2018 - slightly down on the 6.8% registered between January and March.

Sky News has learnt that ‎Unilever and the Leverhulme Trust - set up in 1925 after the death of William Hesketh Lever, or Lord Leverhulme - are discussing the unification of the company's legal structure into a single entity based in the Netherlands.

Sky News has learnt that executives will face a ban on the sale of shares awarded under long-term incentive plans for up to five years as part of a clampdown aimed at rebuilding public trust in business.

Yet one such beast has, almost silently, crept into the FTSE-100 and, as a consequence, now forms a part of the long-term savings of millions of Britons.

Sky News has learnt that the company, which has been trying to find new investors for weeks, has been given until today to pay a £1m-plus bill from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

The president's remarks came out shortly after Mrs May's government outlined Brexit plans to retain close ties to the European Union.

Writing in the Financial Times, Hammond said the long-awaited white paper would allow the City to "flourish" despite abandoning his original "mutual recognition" plan, which would have allowed financial services easier access to the European Union.