Wednesday newspaper round-up: Thames Water, Shell, Nationwide

A bond issued by Thames Water’s parent company has fallen to record lows as the embattled company scrambles to secure its future, and the government signalled it is “ready to step in if necessary”. The £400m bond, issued by the water supplier’s parent company, Kemble, has slumped to only 14.4p after shareholders indicated that they were unwilling to inject further funds into the heavily indebted utility company. – Guardian

Adverts featuring the actor Dominic West as a sneering bank manager will be pulled from TV in their current form after the advertising watchdog ruled they were misleading because they wrongly suggest that the building society had not closed branches. The Advertising Standards Authority (Asa) received 281 complaints, including one from rival lender Santander, about the advert, which ran in October and November. The Nationwide campaign took a swipe at high street banks that have been closing branches. – Guardian

Taxpayers are to pay hundreds of millions of pounds to cover the cost of dismantling some of Shell’s dirtiest oil rigs in the North Sea. It comes after the energy giant was ordered to strip thousands of tonnes of waste from decommissioned oil platforms despite the company’s attempts to keep them in place. Shell has spent the past decade lobbying for an exemption from removing toxic sludge from three platforms located in its Brent oil and gas field over claims it could risk workers’ lives and hurt the taxpayer. – Telegraph

The value of second-hand electric cars has tumbled since the start of the year as Chinese manufacturers flood Britain with cheap new models. The average price of the 20 most popular used electric and hybrid vehicles fell 12pc in the three months to March compared with a year ago, according to research by the AA. – Telegraph

Microsoft will sell Teams, its online meeting service, separately from its Office software suite after coming under scrutiny from competition regulators. The technology group separated Teams and Office six months ago in Europe in an attempt to avoid a fine from the European Commission and now it will take the same approach worldwide. – The Times