The warehouse landlord LondonMetric has agreed a deal to acquire rival Mucklow for more than £400m in a deal that will create a £2.3bn rival to Segro, the sector’s largest listed player. 

Government outsourcer Serco has hailed its turnround under chief executive Rupert Soames with a deal to buy a US defence contractor for $225m. 

Stocks took a further hit on Thursday from the deteriorating trade relations between the US and China, with Asian equities trading around some their lowest levels since February and European and US indices expected to follow.

The UK’s competition watchdog has accused four pharmaceutical companies of breaking the law, alleging they agreed over a five-year period not to compete against each other in the supply of a prescription-only anti-nausea drug.

Sterling extended its losses on Thursday morning as Theresa May faced pressure to resign with support for her new Brexit proposals fizzling and the Conservative party facing a drubbing in European elections.

A private equity-style fund run by the US asset manager Pimco has established a joint venture to acquire UK retail properties, in a sign of opportunistic interest in the troubled sector.

Times may be challenging for UK pub owners, but the growing appetite for craft beer and gin are keeping sales buoyant.

AJ Bell posted a 27 per cent rise in profits for the six months to the end of March in its first set of half-year results since listing last year, shrugging off a difficult period for wealth managers hit by Brexit-related nervousness and turbulent markets.

EU leaders are calling for a female president of the European Commission or European Council and a “gender-balanced” leadership as voters head to the polls for European Parliament elections. 

Robust computer sales helped Lenovo more than triple its quarterly profits, providing a silver lining for China’s under-fire technology sector.

The UN has overwhelmingly backed a resolution demanding that the UK relinquish control of the Chagos Islands, which hosts a US military base, in a move that leaves the two countries diplomatically isolated on the matter on the world stage. 

Japanese manufacturing activity slumped in May as export orders from the world’s third-largest economy fell at their fastest rate in four months, according to early results from a private survey. 

Wesfarmers has agreed to a A$776m ($533m) deal to acquire Kidman Resources, an Australian lithium miner which is developing one of the world’s largest hard rock deposits of the battery-making mineral. 

The top executive at Boeing’s troubled 787 Dreamliner factory in North Charleston, South Carolina, is leaving the company, according to an emailed statement. 

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Wednesday said the introduction of a $20 bill featuring Civil War-era abolitionist Harriet Tubman has been delayed until 2028.

Phonemaker Samsung on Wednesday filed an emergency motion to redact “highly sensitive and confidential” details of its settlement with chipmaker Qualcomm that had “inadvertently” been made public.

Fifa has halted plans to expand the 2022 World Cup due to be held in Qatar, deciding that it would not be possible to host extra matches in neighbouring nations amid political tensions across the Gulf.

A sense of unease set the tone across world stock markets on Wednesday, with concern about the trade dispute between China and the US spilling over into Wall Street trade.

The corruption-busting government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador has barred two former officials at Mexican state energy company Pemex from public office over alleged irregularities regarding the purchase of a fertiliser plant during the previous administration.

Philip Green’s make-or-break plan to restructure his Arcadia fashion empire is facing strong opposition from the Pensions Regulator, which fears it will not adequately protect members.

Federal Reserve rate-setters said in their latest meeting they aim to keep interest rates unchanged even if there’s an improvement in global conditions, as they stick doggedly to their “patient” approach to policy.

A Citigroup analyst has joined the pack of bears coming for Tesla, whose stock has sunk to two-and-a-half-year lows amid simmering worries over demand.

Amazon shareholders on Wednesday rejected a proposal to stop selling the company’s controversial facial recognition technology to governments.

Lloyd’s of London has proposed the biggest shake-up to its governance in a generation as efforts to modernise the insurance market gather pace.