• Tuesday newspaper round-up: Consumer confidence, FCA, Octopus Energy

  Tuesday 25 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - Consumers are cutting back spending on everyday items amid falling confidence in the UK economy before Rachel Reeves's spring statement, according to a survey. As the chancellor prepares to confirm billions of pounds in cuts to welfare and government spending on Wednesday, the research by KPMG showed growing numbers of people in Britain believed the economy was heading in the wrong direction. - Guardian

• Monday newspaper round-up: Thames Water, Gatwick Airport, Ebury

  Monday 24 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - Keir Starmer has been warned against "appeasing" Donald Trump as he considers reducing a major tax for US tech companies while cutting disability benefits and public sector jobs. His chancellor, Rachel Reeves, confirmed on Sunday that there were "ongoing" discussions about the UK's £1bn-a-year digital services tax that affects companies including Meta and Amazon. - Guardian

• Sunday newspaper round-up: Ukraine, HSBC, Rolls-Royce

  Sunday 23 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - Officials from Ukraine and the US are expected to sit down in Riyadh and talk about a possible partial ceasefire on Sunday. The meeting will be taking place sooner than expected and will precede another between delegations from the US and Russian on Monday. On Saturday, the American president said that efforts to stop an escalation in the war were "somewhat under control". For his part, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that: "We are only at the beginning of this path". "We are working for a ceasefire and a lasting peace [...] We won't have the terms of discussions or timing be played out in the media." - The Sunday Telegraph

• Thursday newspaper round-up: High streets, Grangemouth, Fed

  Thursday 20 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - The UK's high streets are expected to empty out at a faster pace this year as extra costs imposed on businesses by Rachel Reeves are blamed for shops closing and a slowdown in chain store openings. The rate of store closures is forecast to rise again as a result of the chancellor's tax-raising budget last October, after a slowdown to 10 a day last year from 13 a day in 2023, according to research. - Guardian

• Wednesday newspaper round-up: Tesla, British Gas, steelmakers

  Wednesday 19 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - Elon Musk's vast stake in Tesla is no longer his most valuable asset as the electric car company continues to endure a sharp stock market sell-off. Musk's stake in SpaceX, his private rockets and satellites business, is now the billionaire tycoon's largest asset for the first time in five years, according to Forbes, which still pegs his net worth at $323bn - more than anyone else in the world. - Guardian

• Tuesday newspaper round-up: Thames Water, Ikea, FOS

  Tuesday 18 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - A record 50% more raw sewage was discharged into rivers in England by Thames Water last year compared with the previous 12 months, data seen by the Guardian reveals. Thames, the largest of the privatised water companies, which is teetering on the verge of collapse with debts of £19bn, was responsible for almost 300,000 hours of raw sewage pouring into waterways in 2024 from its ageing sewage works, according to the data. This compares with 196,414 hours of raw effluent dumped in 2023. - Guardian

• Monday newspaper round-up: Construction vacancies, Tesla, UK manufacturing

  Monday 17 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves will meet UK regulators on Monday after calling for more action to restrict red tape and spur economic growth. The chancellor argued that government plans would reduce costly delays and disputes, saving businesses billions, and said regulators must accept a more streamlined decision-making process. Reeves is expected to use the meeting to announce more detail on how the government will cut the cost of regulation by a quarter and set out plans to slim down or abolish regulators themselves. - Guardian

• Sunday newspaper round-up: ITV, Tax, B & M

  Sunday 16 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - ITV and All3Media's continue to forge ahead with their plans to create a £3bn British TV production giant. Ultimately, their idea is that the new venture will list on the London Stock Exchange. Although a deal remains far from certain, talks are understood to have reached a very detailed level. ITV's broadcast and streaming business would keep their own share quote, while ITV Studios was merged with All3. - The Financial Mail on Sunday

• Friday newspaper round-up: Nationwide, Shein, Jes Staley

  Friday 14 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - Every little helps, so they say. Nationwide building society announced this week that it would be dishing out £50 mini-windfalls to more than 12 million members. And there should be more "free cash" coming down the track for many of them, as Nationwide hopes to announce its third annual "Fairer Share" payout in May. This would follow payments of £100 that were made in 2023 and 2024. - Guardian

• Thursday newspaper round-up: John Lewis Partnership, Ineos, Telegraph Media Group

  Thursday 13 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - The owner of John Lewis and Waitrose has tripled profits to £126m but workers at the staff-owned retail group have missed out on a bonus for a third year in a row. The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) said sales rose 3% to £12.8bn in the 12 months to 25 January 2025, as underlying profit rose from £42m. However, the company said it was prioritising investment over the bonus with plans to spend £600m on transforming the business. - Guardian

• Wednesday newspaper round-up: ONS, Toyota, Reach

  Wednesday 12 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - The UK's embattled statistics agency cannot reverse a pandemic-era decision to release official data on the state of the economy before financial markets open because its creaking website could crash, it has emerged. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) had sought views on whether to revert to releasing statistics - such as GDP and inflation data - at 9.30am. The releases were moved forward to 7am in March 2020 to allow investors time to digest consequential data - such as the subsequent record contraction in the economy - before the start of London stock market trading at 8am. - Guardian

• Tuesday newspaper round-up: Jes Staley, Unilever, ONS

  Tuesday 11 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - Environmental campaigners will challenge the granting of a high-interest £3bn emergency loan to struggling Thames Water at an appeal on Tuesday, arguing the "eye-watering" costs for a short-term fix are not in the public interest. With protests planned outside the court of appeal, Charlie Maynard, a Liberal Democrat MP who represents the campaigners, will argue in a three-day hearing that the public and consumer interest is not served by the debt package, which comes with a bill of almost £1bn in interest payments and financial adviser fees. - Guardian

• Monday newspaper round-up: Hiring, Starlink, Thames Water

  Monday 10 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - Companies are putting the brakes on hiring new staff amid a "subdued" economic outlook and rising wage bills, according to the latest business surveys. In signs of a weakening UK labour market, the consultancy KPMG and the trade body the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said a marked decline in the number of people being placed in permanent and temporary roles continued in February, although hiring declined at a slower pace than in January. - Guardian

• Friday newspaper round-up: HMV, pension funds, Catherine Mann

  Friday 07 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - UK ministers are preparing to take Roman Abramovich to court in a final attempt to free up more than £2bn from the sale of Chelsea FC to spend as aid in Ukraine, the Guardian has learned. Officials say ministers have become increasingly frustrated by the failure to reach an agreement with the Russian oligarch about how the money should be spent and are now ready to fight him in the courts. - Guardian

• Thursday newspaper round-up: Ofwat, Jes Staley, The Very Group

  Thursday 06 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - An environmental group is to take legal action against Ofwat, the water regulator, accusing it of unlawfully making customers pay for decades of neglect by the water industry. River Action will file the legal claim this month, arguing that bill rises for customers that have been approved by the regulator could be used to fix infrastructure failures that should have been addressed years ago. - Guardian

• Wednesday newspaper round-up: Trade unions, Apple, Smith & Nephew

  Wednesday 05 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - Some companies are "stuck in neutral" in their approach to artificial intelligence, according to Microsoft's UK boss, who said a significant number of private and public sector organisations lack any formal AI strategy. A Microsoft survey of nearly 1,500 UK senior leaders across public and private sectors, as well as 1,440 employees, found that more than half of executives feel their organisation has no official AI plan. Roughly the same proportion report a growing gap in productivity - a measure of economic efficiency - between employees who use AI and those who do not. - Guardian

• Tuesday newspaper round-up: Tariffs, Elon Musk, public sector wage

  Tuesday 04 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - China and Canada unveiled retaliatory measures against the US after Donald Trump imposed his sweeping tariffs plan at midnight US time, despite warnings it could spark an escalating trade war. US tariffs have come into force of 25% against goods from Canada and Mexico, the US's two biggest trading partners, and 20% tariffs against China - doubling the levy on China from last month. - Guardian

• Monday newspaper round-up: leasehold system, net zero, Asda

  Monday 03 Mar 2025

  (Sharecast News) - The government must close loopholes that enable firms exploiting workers to undercut British businesses or risk the UK becoming a "dumping ground" for goods made in poor conditions, MPs have said. In a report published on Monday, the business and trade select committee calls on the government to make it mandatory for companies to say how they will tackle modern slavery in their supply chain and to introduce bigger penalties for firms that do not comply, including "naming and shaming" businesses. - Guardian

• Friday newspaper round-up: Councils, GSK, business confidence

  Friday 28 Feb 2025

  (Sharecast News) - Almost half of councils in England risk falling into bankruptcy without action to address a £4.6bn deficit amassed under a Conservative-era policy, the government's spending watchdog has warned. In a damning report, the National Audit Office said that rising pressure on public services and repeated delays to reform the funding of local government meant town halls were in an "unsustainable" financial position. - Guardian

• Thursday newspaper round-up: United Utilities, Amazon, Nvidia

  Thursday 27 Feb 2025

  (Sharecast News) - Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has announced an ambitious plan to add more than £100bn to the capital's economy within a decade. Unveiling what he is calling the London growth plan, Khan said he was allocating hundreds of millions of pounds in devolved funding in an attempt to return the annual productivity growth of the London economy to the levels seen before the 2008 financial crisis. - Guardian

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