Tuesday newspaper round-up: Netflix, Budget, tax-free shopping, Patisserie Valerie

Netflix has announced plans to raise a further $2bn (£1.5bn) in debt, adding to mounting long-term liabilities which now total more than $30bn. The US streaming service said the money raised will be used for a range of “general corporate purposes”, from buying new programmes and films to acquisitions. – Guardian

Ditching the government’s budget plans and adopting Labour’s tax and spending proposals would allow Philip Hammond to ditch austerity and pencil in an extra £100bn of spending by the middle of the next decade, according to a leftwing thinktank. In a report to be published later this week, the Fabian Society said there was no clear case for the chancellor to stick to his plan of running a surplus and that the emphasis should be on investment that would improve the economy’s growth rate. – Guardian

Dr Martens has reported a 33pc increase in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) to £50m, citing strong sales in Europe and the Middle East. Group revenue was up 20pc to £348.6m for the year ending March 31, compared to £290.6m the previous year. – Telegraph

US private equity giant Cerberus has been accused of misleading the government on a deal to snap up £13bn worth of mortgages from bust lender Northern Rock. Cerberus bought the huge loan book in 2016 from state-owned UK Asset Resolution (UKAR), the company set up by the Treasury to manage its ownership of failed lenders it took over during the financial crisis. – Telegraph

Britain’s top retailers, including Harrods and Fortnum & Mason, have written to the chancellor asking him to scrap the government’s proposal to digitise tax-free shopping. The letter, signed by some 600 retailers in the West End of London and every retail lobby group, states that the industry has “lost confidence” in the Treasury’s reform of tax-free shopping, which “risks a further loss of international competitiveness post-Brexit”. – The Times

Leading investors in Patisserie Valerie want Luke Johnson, chairman of the troubled café chain, to give up control of an internal investigation into a £40 million hole in its accounts over concerns that the review is not sufficiently independent. Invesco, a top ten shareholder in the Aim-listed company, has told Mr Johnson and the board of Patisserie Holdings, the parent company, to hand over the investigation to a law firm or an independent investigation firm during talks last week, according to people familiar with the matter. – The Times