Wednesday newspaper round-up: Amazon, Iceland, Lloyds Bank

Amazon’s key UK business paid just 3% more tax last year when profits rose by more than a third as the online retailer benefited from the switch to home shopping. The group’s warehouse and logistics operation, which employs more than two-thirds of its 30,000-plus UK workforce, Amazon UK Services, said its corporation tax contribution was £14.46m in 2019, up from £14.03m the year before. Pretax profits at the division soared 35% to nearly £102m as revenues rose by 29% to nearly £3bn, according to accounts about to be published by Companies House. - Guardian

Supermarket Iceland has created 3,000 new jobs to cope with the huge extra demand for online groceries since the lockdown in March, the company said. Online orders surged by more than 300% since April as shoppers rushed to book delivery slots and as all non-essential retailers were forced to shut their doors. - Guardian

Britain needs a new furlough programme to avoid a “cliff edge” surge in unemployment when the Job Retention Scheme ends next month, according to business groups and unions. Government support for the pay of employees who are staying off work is being cut back gradually in September and October, but comes to an end beyond that point. - Telegraph

Lloyds Banking Group has been censured by the competition watchdog for forcing small companies damaged by the pandemic to open paid-for business current accounts to access emergency state-backed loans. The Competition and Markets Authority said the bank, one of the largest in the small business market, had unfairly limited choice by requiring companies seeking credit during the crisis to open an account so they could access the Bounce Back Loan Scheme. - The Times

A clash between retailers and landlords has escalated as Britain’s biggest property owners call on the government to end a ban on aggressive collection of rent. The British Property Federation has written to Alok Sharma, the business secretary, urging him to end a moratorium introduced at the start of the pandemic. It said the ban was “undermining the UK’s attractiveness” as a place to invest in property and development, which could undermine the recovery. - The Times