Ryanair is to appeal against the European Commission's decision to block its proposed bid for Aer Lingus.

Lunch on Wednesday with Michael Snyder, chair of the Professional and Businesses Services Group, one of the network of advisory committees for government. He, in his day job, is long-time head of Kingston Smith, a mid-sized accounting firm.

Philips Electronics was once one of the world’s largest manufacturers of television sets and video gadgets but today it all but admitted defeat, selling a key business and vowing to focus on healthcare and wellbeing.

Banks are still not doing enough to help consumers find the best deals in the current account market, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said today.

The mining and commodities giants Glencore and Xstrata are within a whisker of consummating their £56bn "mega-merger" after China indicated that its regulator had no reason to oppose the deal.

Lengthy antitrust regulatory processes in China and South Africa have forced commodities trader Glencore to delay the date for completion of its tie-up with miner Xstrata until the end of January.

Britain's three biggest cinema chains are considering bids for a group of picture houses owned by disgraced former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and fashion house Benetton.

The Independent on Sunday: Critics of Big Four audit firms see evidence of 'closed shop'

The Independent on Sunday: Big four auditors face monopoly interrogation

The Office of Fair Trading has quietly increased fees to investigate small mergers by one-third, which critics argue could result in fewer anti-competitive deals being referred to competition regulators.

The Office of Fair Trading's new boss will take up the reins of the trading watchdog on less than half the salary of his predecessor, it emerged yesterday.

The European Commission has given Google "a matter of weeks" to change its internet search policy after Brussels regulators ruled that the US web giant could be abusing its dominant position.

The European Union said today that Google must in ''a matter of weeks" outline steps it is willing to take to ease concerns about alleged abuses of its dominant position in the online search market.

Economic Life: If growth disappoints, both presidential candidates would have to change course