New Look store in Oxford Street, London, the fashion retailer is among several businesses that have cancelled their flotation plans. An array of rumoured flotations that were delayed during the financial crisis but tipped for revival this autumn have been shelved again on fears about the state of the capital markets. The series of U-turns [...]

Candover Investments has announced plans to wind itself up. Among the assets the private equity firm will be selling is Ferretti, the Italian luxury yacht group. Candover Investments today became the latest high-profile victim of the financial crisis, as the private equity firm announced plans to wind itself up, selling its remaining assets and returning [...]

Friends of the Earth says that biofuel crops, including sugar cane, ‘are competing directly with food crops for fertile land’. Photograph: Juan Carlos Ulate/Reuters European Union countries must drop their biofuels targets or else risk plunging more Africans into hunger and raising carbon emissions, according to Friends of the Earth (FoE). In a campaign launching [...]

Crop harvesting in Germany. A shortage of arable farmland is leading to intercontinental ‘land grabs’ creating greater pressure on the environment and provoking political crises. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images A few diehards in the City still think sustainability is just for sandal-wearers. But how we deal with the major ecological and social challenges facing the [...]

Firms finances actually improved over the quarter and they predicted they would spend more on capital investment and research and development in the coming year Photograph: Schleichkorn – Cmsp/Getty Images/Science Faction The economic recovery looks set to slow down during the second half of the year following a fall in confidence among businesses, research indicated [...]