Friday newspaper round-up: Eggs, Mortgage Arrears, Asda

Four supermarkets have withdrawn products from their shelves as it emerged that 700,000 eggs from Dutch farms implicated in a contamination scare had been distributed to Britain. The Food Standards Agency said the number of contaminated eggs estimated to have reached the UK was far higher than the 21,000 first supposed, and that egg salads from Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda, sandwiches from Morrisons, and sandwich fillers from Waitrose had been withdrawn. - The Guardian

Rock-bottom interest rates and a booming jobs market have helped to push the number of mortgages in arrears to a record low with repossessions also at their lowest level. Mortgages in arrears fell to 88,200 in the second quarter, the least since records began in 1994, according UK Finance, previously the Council of Mortgage Lenders. The figure means that 0.8% of the 11 million mortgages outstanding in the UK are behind on at least 2.5% of the amount owned. - The Times

Thousands of Asda workers are facing redundancy or a dramatic cut in their working hours as Britain’s third-largest supermarket chain looks to cut costs. Asda has begun a consultation with 3,257 employees in 18 underperforming stores, singled out as overstaffed relative to their current sales performance. - The Guardian

Norwegian investor aims to offer a lifeline to the debt-laden publisher of the i newspaper before it falls into hands of US hedge funds, with plans use its online audiences as a launchpad for digital start-ups. Christen Ager-Hanssen, whose private equity firm Custos owns the Metro freesheet in Sweden, bought more than 5% of Johnston Press on Wednesday. The move sent Johnston Press shares climbing 13pc today. - The Daily Telegraph

Shares in Snap, the owner of Snapchat, dived after the company posted its second set of financial results in a row which missed nearly every target set by analysts. They fell 17.1% to $11.41 — their lowest level since floating on the stock market in March at $17 — as second-quarter losses were revealed to have almost quadrupled to $443.1m off lower than expected revenue of $181.7m. - The Times