Friday newspaper round-up: Amazon, Liberty Steel, Arrival

The government has announced plans for a £1.5bn funding pot to help companies struggling with business rates following a flood of requests for support during the coronavirus pandemic. In an expansion of support across the economy, the Treasury said the new fund was designed to help firms outside the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors with the taxes they pay based on the value of the premises they occupy. - Guardian

Amazon caused an uproar on Thursday when it denied reports that its delivery workers have been forced to urinate in bottles due to lack of access to bathrooms, but a leaked internal memo shows the company has been aware of the problem for at least several months. Documents provided by employees at Amazon to the Intercept showed that an email sent in May 2020 admonished workers for urinating in bottles and defecating in bags while on the job. - Guardian

Rolls-Royce is buying enough steel from Liberty to last until Christmas to guarantee supplies in case Sanjeev Gupta's struggling empire collapses. The jet engine manufacturer is buying a relatively small amount of speciality steel and its has not revealed its value. However, the move underlined the strategic nature of Liberty, according to an industry source. - Telegraph

An electric van and bus start-up that has yet to build its first production vehicle has secured the highest valuation ever for a British company on its stock market debut. Arrival, which was founded in 2015 and is based in London, has yet to turn a profit but was valued at $13.6 billion, or almost £10 billion, when its shares began trading in New York yesterday. - The Times

Nearly a third of the world’s daily container shipping volume passes through the Suez Canal, so when a giant ship wedges itself across the width of the canal and blocks transit in both directions, there will be consequences. Last night, after three days of failed rescue attempts, the Ever Given, a container ship that is about as long as the Empire State Building is tall, remained lodged bow-to-stern in the sandy walls of the Suez. Over these three days, container cargo worth an estimated $30 billion was unable to pass through the waterway. - The Times