BT is planning for a walkout by more than half of its staff, with the results of a strike ballot of members of the Communication Workers' Union expected early this afternoon.

Union insiders said they were quietly confident of a yes vote. If the more than 50,000 CWU members within BT do vote for industrial action, officials must give BT seven days' notice, meaning workers could strike from 12 July.

Building society Nationwide says it is likely to end its sponsorship of the England football team.

Nationwide had tabled a £20m offer to extend the partnership for another four years, but this had been turned down by the FA.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has so far cost BP a total of $3.12bn (£2bn), the company has said.

The total includes the cost of containing the spill and cleaning up the oil, and the cost of drilling relief wells.

Toyota is recalling up to 270,000 luxury cars worldwide to fix an engine problem that can cause vehicles to stall.

Seven models of Toyota's luxury Lexus range are involved with the recall, along with its Crown model. It will begin in Japan next Monday, where 90,000 of the affected cars are based.

Tesco has suffered the largest shareholder rebellion seen in the City this year, and the sixth biggest in the past decade.

Investors gave the supermarket chain a bloody nose at its annual general meeting today , when nearly half of shareholders (47%) voted against its boardroom pay policy or abstained. Almost a third cast their vote against the remuneration report and another 15% withheld their vote.