Monday newspaper round-up: Ford, Amazon, online sales tax

Ford has announced it will invest £230m in a Merseyside transmission factory to upgrade it to make parts for electric vehicles, in a significant fillip for northern England’s automotive industry. The US carmaker’s investment will help maintain about 500 jobs at the plant in Halewood, Knowsley, which currently makes transmission systems for petrol and diesel vehicles. Ford will receive UK government support worth about £30m, according to a source with knowledge of negotiations. - Guardian

Amazon is offering signing-up bonuses of up to £3,000 in areas of Britain with labour shortages, to attract workers in time for the Christmas surge in demand. The Food and Drink Federation says there is a “battle for labour” in the run-up to Christmas, with Amazon trying to recruit 20,000 temporary staff. Many food and hospitality firms cannot compete with the pay now being offered by the online giant and this may affect Christmas deliveries and supplies. - Guardian

Rishi Sunak is stepping up plans for an online sales tax to level the playing field between tech behemoths and high street retailers after delaying an overhaul of business rates. Treasury officials have accelerated work on a new e-commerce tax in the past few weeks and are scoping out details of a potential levy, including what goods and services will be covered, sources told The Daily Telegraph. - Telegraph

A battery storage developer spun out of the University of Sydney plans to list in London to raise more than £16m to commercialise its technology. Australia-based Gelion Technologies is expected to be valued at around £120m when it floats on Aim next month, having already raised cash from investors including Regal Funds Management and Elphinstone Group. - Telegraph

The restaurant group behind Quaglino’s and Coq d’Argent in London and 20 Stories in Manchester estimates that staff shortages are costing it 10 per cent of its revenues. Des Gunewardena, chairman and chief executive of D&D London, said the company’s workforce of 1,700 UK staff was already about 100 to 150 short and the problem would become more serious as Christmas approached. - The Times