BUSINESS LIVE: Pearson profits jump; ITV sells Britbox stake; Rightmove hails another

ITV has sold its holding in BritBox International in order to concentrate on expanding its streaming service and global studios operations.

The broadcasting giant has offloaded its 50 per cent stake in the digital subscription platform, which has around 3.75 million subscribers, to its joint venture partner BBC Studios for £255million.

When it comes to adding green technology upgrades to their properties, more often than not the first port of call for homeowners is solar panels.

Homes across the country have been fitted with photovoltaic cells, and there is little sign that uptake will stop.

Property prices rose in February due to lower mortgage rates, according to the latest Nationwide house price index.

Britain’s biggest building society recorded a 0.7 per cent increase in the average house price after taking account of seasonal effects.

A row between two of Britain’s poshest supermarkets escalated yesterday after Ocado threatened to take court action against Marks & Spencer.

Ocado said it could sue rival upmarket grocer M&S, claiming that it is owed millions of pounds in payments that were linked to performance.

As chief economist at the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Clare Lombardelli is one of the few Brits to hold one of the high offices at a global policy institution.

So it is slightly curious that after just a year handing out advice to the OECD’s 38 members, generally considered the elite of Western capitalism, she has agreed to return to the UK as deputy governor of the Bank of England.

Sainsbury’s plans to axe 1,500 jobs in a mammoth £1billion cost-cutting drive.

The country’s second-largest supermarket is simplifying operations as it woos shoppers back from discount rivals.

AB InBev said that its growth had been ‘constrained’ after a huge boycott of its beers following a controversy with a transgender model.

The world’s largest brewer said the number of its drinks sold fell 1.7 per cent in 2023 after American shoppers turned their backs on its Bud Light beer.

First it was Wincanton, then Currys and now Direct Line. Companies at the heart of the UK economy are being preyed on by foreign suitors – and it could be just the start.

As global dealmaking comes back with a bang after a long hiatus, private equity barons and cash-rich corporations see listed British businesses as a bargain.

Women will be in the majority on the powerful Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at the Bank of England for the first time in its 329-year history after the appointment of a new deputy governor.

Threadneedle Street yesterday said Clare Lombardelli (pictured), chief economist at international thinktank the OECD, will sit on the interest rate-setting panel from July.