Tata Steel reports loss after delaying jobs cuts announcement at last minute – as it happened

Blast furnace number four at the Tata Steel Port Talbot integrated iron and steel works in south Wales. Photograph: Geoff Caddick/AFP/Getty Images

4.02pm GMT

Closing post

Time to wrap up.

Here’s the latest on the situation at Port Talbot:

Tata Steel has pulled an announcement that had been expected to detail steep job cuts at its Port Talbot steelworks, in a dramatic last-minute reprieve that has left workers in the dark over the plant’s future.

Workers had been braced for confirmation of the closures of the two blast furnaces after a board meeting on Wednesday. However, Tata communicated after the board meeting that it would not be releasing a statement on its plans.

Unions have been left in the dark over the reasoning and whether Tata is likely to make an announcement or not in the coming days or weeks.

And here’s the rest of today’s business and economics news:

3.31pm GMT

Tata Steel’s latest financial results also show it made a loss, on an EBITDA basis, in the UK of 1,367 crores (or £135m) in July-September.

That’s an increase on the previous quarter, even though raw material costs fell.

Updated at 3.41pm GMT