Franking Machine

The tobacco giant behind Marlboro announces plans to take over rival Rothmans, the maker of Benson and Hedges cigarettes.

General Motors is discussing the sale of its Hummer brand with a number of potential buyers, the firm says.

UK house prices see their biggest annual fall since the Nationwide began its housing survey in 1991, new figures show.

Shares in BT fall sharply in Thursday trading following disappointing quarterly results for the telecoms group.

HBOS sees profits before tax fall 72% in the first six months of the year as write-offs and bad debts rise sharply.

Unilever shares fall as the food and consumer goods group reports a 4% fall in pre-tax profits.

Consumer groups express anger as British Gas owner Centrica reports

Paternoster, the specialist insurer, has called on regulators to crack down on companies that offer cash top-up payments to pension scheme members who transfer out of their nest egg early, in a thinly veiled attack on Goldman Sachs and a slew of British firms that are adopting such an approach.

Abbey, owned by Spain’s Santander bank, will continue fighting a £21 million claim over the alleged mis-selling of so-called precipice bonds after it failed in a challenge to the legal authority of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) today.

Philip Morris, the world’s largest tobacco company, has offered C$2 billion ($£99 million) for Rothmans, Canada’s second biggest cigarette maker.