The brewer and pub operator Greene Kinghas warned that the UK's fragile economy is set toget worse as it revealedthat sales at its core managed pubs business slipped nearly 3 per cent in the past eight weeks.

Bradford & Bingley was last night preparing for more bad news, with the rating agency Moody's set to cut the mortgage bank's credit rating, just days before a crucial shareholder vote.

Vodafone has bought a 70 per cent stake in Ghana Telecom for $900m (£454m), in line with the company's strategy to look to emerging economies for expansion opportunities.

The beleaguered furniture retailer ScS has been sold to a US private equity company after it became the latest retailer to fall into administration.

Barratt Developments is to axe 1,000 jobs, almost 15 per cent of its workforce, as the embattled builder attempts to slash its costs in the face of the housing crisis.

BP became the latest British corporation to become a headline sponsor of the London 2012 Olympics yesterday, in a multi-year deal estimated to be worth in excess of £50m.

The tussle between WPP and TNS over the market research company's future took another twist yesterday with TNS's swift rejection of the advertising giant's third takeover proposal.

The US Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, signalled yesterday that the worst may soon be over for the American economy.

Robert Wiseman Dairies raised the spectre of higher milk prices yesterday as it warned it would have to pass on the rising costs of fuel and packaging.

The European Central Bank has increased eurozone interest rates by a quarter percentage point to 4.25 per cent, amid worrying signs that the oil price boom and the credit crunch are getting worse rather than better.