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

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.