Panasonic slashed its profit forecasts yesterday by 90 per cent because of the global economic turmoil.

The Alba Group has sold its Alba and Bush trademarks to high-street catalogue retailer Argos and is changing its name to Harvard International.

Nearly £30 million in underlying pre-tax losses were posted by DSG International in the firsts half of its financial year to October 18.

The board of Woolworths formally voted this evening to put most of its business into administration as talks to offload its 840-store retail chain and much of its £385 million debt to restructuring specialist Hilco failed to win the backing of lenders.

Furniture chain MFI has confirmed that it is to go into administration.

Demands for a full one per cent rate cut next month to bring interest rates down to two per cent have been made by the British Chambers of Commerce.

Furniture chain MFI is reported to be in danger of collapse because of a growing row over unpaid rents.

Woolworths shares have been suspended as reports grow that the group is nearing a break-up.

The UK will be among the countries most hurt by the economic slowdown next year.

The measures announced by the Chancellor in his Pre Budget Report will not stop the UK economy suffering its longest period of stagnation since the 1979-83 recession.

Marks and Spencer is reported to be planning a second one-day sale before Christmas.

Smaller companies are twice as likely as larger companies to be refused credit, according to a new survey.

Woolworths has only days to agree a deal with restructuring specialist Hilco or it will have to call in administrators, according to a report in The Daily Telegraph.

Woolworths is reported to be "teetering on the brink of collapse" as its lenders failed to approve the £1 sale of the group's 800-store retail chain to restructuring company Hilco.

DSGi - parent company of Currys, Currys.digital, Dixons and PC World – is to close its PC World Business in Ireland with the loss of 12 jobs.

Retail chiefs have slammed the latest ONS figures that show total sales values in October were 3.2 per cent up on a year ago (see story on ERTonline).

Polish appliance maker Amica is expanding its distribution network in the UK.

The volume of retail sales plateaued in the three months to October compared with the previous quarter, official figures show.

Talks between Woolworths and retail restructuring company Hilco have been slammed by the retailer's biggest shareholder.

Marks and Spencer is joining store group Debenhams in holding a pre-Christmas sale.

US company Zoombak is to close its UK consumer business because of the economic downturn.

Despite the downturn, Fagor reported that it has achieved record sales in the UK.

A Mexican billionaire snatched 30 million shares in Circuit City in three days following the troubled US electrical retailer's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

BskyB is to raise £399 million through a bond issue to institutional investors.

Woolworths is reported to be in talks to sell all 800 of its stores for a nominal £1 to restructuring specialist Hilco.

Department store group John Lewis reported that the slow-down in its weekly sales was accelerating.

BT Vision, BT's broadband digital TV service, is to carry ITV content on-demand.

Humax has revealed the dates for an over-the-air software upgrade to regulate the fans on its PVR-9150T and PVR-9300T digital TV recorders.

Carphone Warehouse is reported to be planning to spin off its TalkTalk broadband internet service.

More than a hundred members of Indesit's Peterborough team are getting ready to man the company's call-centre phones to take donation pledges during the BBC's annual Children in Need TV appeal on BB1 tonight from 7pm to 2am.

Sales at department store group John Lewis dropped nearly 10 per cent last week.

The world's biggest retailer Wal-Mart, parent company of UK supermarket giant Asda, has reported a 6.6 per cent rise in its third-quarter profits.

DSG International - the parent company of Currys, Currys.digital, PC World and Dixons - is to lose another member of its top team.

Virgin Media is to cut 2,200 jobs (about 15 per cent of its workforce) by 2012.

Supermarket group Sainsbury's has reported a £26 million rise in pre-tax profits in its first half-year and promises to accelerate the growth of its non-food lines.

Fears are growing in Wales that Hoover is planning to close its manufacturing plant in Merthyr Tydfil and relocate it to Turkey or Eastern Europe.

DSG International has denied reports that it is to sell its Eastern European Electroworld chain as part of a strategic review.

Mobile phone maker Vodafone is to slash £1 billion off its costs by 2011 as it cut its annual sales forecast for the second time this year.

For the first time in three years, UK retail sales were lower than a year ago.

Circuit City, the second biggest electrical retailer in the USA after Best Buy, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Satellite broadcaster Sky is to launch a subscription TV service on the internet using its Sky Player platform.

Samsung Techwin is to spin off its camera business to form a separate company that will probably be called Samsung Digital Imaging.

Marks & Spencer is to sell the ultimate in TV bling - a limited edition 19in HD-ready LCD TV with Freeview and DVD player on board and studded with more than 500 Swarovski Element crystals.

Panasonic and Sanyo broke cover today and admitted that the two companies will officially start talks on a capital and business alliance that will result in Sanyo becoming a subsidiary of Panasonic.

Banks are accused of being one of the biggest barriers to small firm growth.

Britain's recession will be worse than that of any other major economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.

The number of shoppers who set out on trips to buy non-food items fell by more than three per cent in October.

The Bank of England has cut a full one-and-a-half percentage points off interest rates, bringing the Bank Rate down to three per cent, its lowest level for more than half a century.

Department store group John Lewis is to open its first store outside the UK.

The UK's first full-scale digital TV switchover started just after midnight as analogue BBC Two was turned off at transmitters across the Scottish Borders.

From today, on-screen messages about digital switchover will appear on analogue TV channels in Exeter, Devon.

The Fair Employment Enforcement Board, formed by the Government to weed out rogue employers, held its first meeting today.

Electricals are still cheaper than a year ago, latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) have revealed.

Hitachi is to put £1.5 million behind an advertising campaign for its Ultra Thin LCD TVs.

Five is to launch on free-to-view satellite TV platform Freesat on Tuesday November 18.

A 44 per cent fall in its pre-tax profits was reported by Marks & Spencer.