• Wednesday newspaper round-up: Water companies, Sellafield, EY

  Wednesday 23 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Hundreds of millions of pounds of local transport funding in England could be cut in next week's spending review despite having been agreed with regional mayors, putting bus, tube and tram improvements at risk. The mayors, most of whom are Labour, are engaged in a last-minute lobbying campaign to stop the Treasury raiding their transport budgets as Rachel Reeves looks for immediate savings. - Guardian

• Tuesday newspaper round-up: Influencers, Microsoft, Canal+

  Tuesday 22 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Britain's financial watchdog has interviewed 20 social media influencers under caution, as it clamps down on "finfluencers" who may be touting financial services products illegally. The 20 were interviewed voluntarily using the Financial Conduct Authority's criminal powers. Potential penalties include fines and imprisonment of up to two years. - Guardian

• Monday newspaper round-up: Water companies, Sky, Microsoft

  Monday 21 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Almost half of the UK workforce lack access to workplace health support including winter flu vaccinations and checks for cardiovascular diseases, a report has found. The analysis, by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), looked at data from the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (DBEIS) and found that more than 10 million UK workers lack access to services including basic health checks, vaccinations, and smoking or weight loss support, provided by their employer. - Guardian

• Sunday newspaper round-up: Bond investors, Reckitt Benckiser, Tate&Lyle

  Sunday 20 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Government bond investors are signalling to the Chancellor that her plans for an additional £80bn of debt will not trigger and Liz-Truss style panic. But that will only hold true if she first establishes clear annual expenditure plans and lays out the economic case for the projects that she wants to fund. The new borrowing would be on top of spending cuts and tax hikes needed to fill a £22bn hole in the country's finances. Chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, has promised that "independent checks and balances" will be instituted to ensure value for money. - The Sunday Times

• Friday newspaper round-up: Post Office, bankers' bonuses, new job ads

  Friday 18 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is taking action to ensure her budget plan for a multibillion-pound increase in government borrowing to fund infrastructure projects avoids a Liz Truss-style meltdown in financial markets. Ahead of her tax and spending event on 30 October, the chancellor is convening on Friday the first meeting of a taskforce of leading City figures to advise on infrastructure projects. The government will also launch a watchdog to oversee public works and ensure value for money for the taxpayer. - Guardian

• Thursday newspaper round-up: Tesco, Post Office, Amazon, Stellantis

  Thursday 17 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Tesco has struck a deal to buy enough solar power to run 144 of its large supermarkets, buying almost two-thirds of the entire electricity output from the Cleve Hill solar park in Kent. The £450m solar park is being built on farmland near Faversham by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, a London-based firm that invests in renewable and low-carbon energy in the US, UK and Australia. - Guardian

• Wednesday newspaper round-up: Water firms, Labour tax raid, Boeing, BMW

  Wednesday 16 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - The future ownership of the water industry should be decided by a citizens' assembly to remove decision-making from boardrooms and impose democracy on the sector, a private member's bill is to argue. Labour MP Clive Lewis, who in the past has called for water to be put back into public ownership, will introduce his bill on the future of water ownership and management later today. - Guardian

• Tuesday newspaper round-up: Energy crisis, Porterbrook, Google

  Tuesday 15 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Britain is at risk of experiencing a repeat of the sharp increase in energy costs which has fuelled the continuing cost of living crisis because it relies too heavily on gas, according to an expert panel of industry leaders. The Energy Crisis Commission has warned that the UK is still "dangerously underprepared" for another crisis because it continues to rely on gas for its power plants and home heating. - Guardian

• Monday newspaper round-up: Harland & Wolff, Post Office, top rate taxpayers

  Monday 14 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Spanish shipbuilding firm Navantia is in exclusive negotiations to buy Harland & Wolff, the owner of the Belfast shipyard that built the Titanic, in a deal that could rescue up to 1,000 jobs. It is understood the group could take control of the group's four yards - in Belfast; Appledore, Devon; Arnish on the Isle of Lewis; and Methil, Fife - as early as next month. - Guardian

• Sunday newspaper round-up: BP, Smith&Nephew, TalkTalk

  Sunday 13 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Activist investor Bluebell has asked for BP chairman Helge Lund's head due to the oil giant's "embarrassing" share price performance. Whilst Shell or American rivals Chevron and ExxonMobil had doubled down on profitable fossil fuels, BP had followed a green strategy. Reports indicate that BP's new boss, Murray Auchinloss, was looking to pivot back to oil and gas in response to pressure from shareholders. Yet the company had not confirmed those reports and was not due to provide a strategy update until February. - Financial Mail on Sunday

• Friday newspaper round-up: Scottish Power, TGI Fridays, green energy firms

  Friday 11 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - The leaders of the world's biggest green energy companies have promised more than £24bn of new private investment across Great Britain ahead of a meeting with the prime minister on Friday. Keir Starmer is expected to meet the green energy bosses on the sidelines of the first Council of Nations and Regions in Edinburgh to discuss the multibillion-pound projects just days before the government's international investment summit next week. - Guardian

• Thursday newspaper round-up: Workers' rights, UK productivity, downsizers

  Thursday 10 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Rogue employers will be targeted by a beefed-up new enforcement agency to protect sweeping changes to rights at work for millions of Britons, set to be outlined in a "watershed" bill published on Friday. The Fair Work Agency will be created as part of the government's employment rights legislation, which will include stronger protections against unfair dismissal and exploitative contracts. - Guardian

• Wednesday newspaper round-up: Telecoms companies, zero-hours contracts, Boeing

  Wednesday 09 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - The UK advertising watchdog has cracked down on marketing campaigns by telecoms companies including BT, EE, Virgin Media and O2 for misleading consumers about price rises added to their bills during their contracts. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has issued a batch of rulings against ads run by BT, its subsidiaries EE and Plusnet, as well as TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media broadband. - Guardian

• Tuesday newspaper round-up: Winter blackouts, Selfridges, Richemont

  Tuesday 08 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Ticket sales for the Oasis reunion tour helped to increase non-essential spending by British consumers to the highest level this year in September, amid a bumper month for retailers. In a sign of resilience despite a pre-budget hit to consumer confidence, industry figures show retail sales and discretionary spending on entertainment, meals out and little luxuries rose sharply last month. - Guardian

• Monday newspaper round-up: Retailers, Telegraph, pension funds

  Monday 07 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - More than 70 retailers, including Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Ikea, are lobbying the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, for a 20% cut to business rates, warning that the property tax could force tens of thousands of shops to shut. In a letter to Reeves coordinated by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), executives are pushing the Treasury to introduce a "retail rates corrector" on the levy, which is a property-based tax charged by local councils and imposed on businesses including retailers, pubs, factories and company offices. - Guardian

• Sunday newspaper round-up: Climate Change, The Telegraph, Stamp duty

  Sunday 06 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Humanity has failed at the goal of keeping the degree of global warming below 1.5C. According to the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Jim Skea, the planet was on course to warm by 3C by 2100. But surface temperatures would rise by more than those of the sea. Furthermore, western Europe and the UK were at threat from even greater warming, possibly as much as 5C by the turn of the century. - The Sunday Telegraph

• Friday newspaper round-up: Electric car sales, SSE, small businesses

  Friday 04 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves is paving the way for a multibillion-pound increase in public-sector investment at the budget after the government announced plans to commit almost £22bn over 25 years to fund carbon capture and storage projects. In what is expected to be one of the biggest green spending promises of the parliament, the chancellor, prime minister and the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, will unveil the details on a visit to the Liverpool city region on Friday declaring a "new era" for clean energy jobs. - Guardian

• Thursday newspaper round-up: Bank payments, GB News, OpenAI

  Thursday 03 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Sellafield will have to pay almost £400,000 after it pleaded guilty to criminal charges over years of cybersecurity failings at Britain's most hazardous nuclear site. The vast nuclear waste dump in Cumbria left information that could threaten national security exposed for four years, according to the industry regulator, which brought the charges. It was also found that 75% of its computer servers were vulnerable to cyber-attack. - Guardian

• Wednesday newspaper round-up: CityFibre, Covid loans, FCA

  Wednesday 02 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Ministers are being asked to draw up billions of pounds in cuts to infrastructure projects over the next 18 months despite Rachel Reeves pledging to invest more to grow the economy, the Guardian has learned. Members of the cabinet have been asked to model cuts to their investment plans of up to 10% of their annual capital spending as part of this month's spending review, government sources said. - Guardian

• Tuesday newspaper round-up: Tips, eBay, business confidence

  Tuesday 01 Oct 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Unions fear some restaurants and other businesses may slip through the net of new legislation over the fair distribution of tips and service charges that comes into force in Great Britain on Tuesday. The government said the long-planned changes would mean workers would be in line for about £200m that may otherwise have been retained by employers. Under the new rules 100% of tips - by cash or card - and any service charge levied on customers must be passed on to staff working in restaurants, cafes, hotels, hairdressers or taxi firms. - Guardian

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