Press Round-Up Short (Premium)
Monday newspaper round-up: Public sector workers, Royal Mail, energy suppliers
Nearly 2 million public sector workers could be close to quitting over poor pay, their representatives have warned, leaving the UK’s public services facing a looming crisis. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) said the efforts of millions of key workers got the UK through the worst of the Covid pandemic, but now those same workers were facing another year of “pay misery” at the hands of the government – while the cost of living continues to soar. – Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Bank windfall tax, Octopus Energy, Royal Navy
Two high-ranking sources near to the new Prime Minister and Chancellor gave short shrift to the idea that a new tax might be levied on lenders. Indeed, during his time as Chancellor, Rishi Sunak had looked at ways to bolster the City after Brexit, whereas bankers have been warning Jeremy Hunt that a tax raid would only hamstring such plans. Furthermore, government sources expect that Hunt will lower the current eight per cent tax surcharge on banks' earnings to three per cent, as had also been planned by Sunak, while raising corporation tax from 19 per cent to 25 per cent for a total levy on banks of 28 per cent.
Friday newspaper round-up: Amazon, Shell, Made.com
A Norway-style windfall tax on energy companies could raise £33. 3bn extra by 2027, plugging a hole in government finances and helping keep energy bills low, analysis has found. The new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is looking at extending the “sunset clause” in the energy profits levy by two years beyond 2025 as a result of the booming profits fossil fuel companies have been recording owing to the war in Ukraine. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Meta, Twitter, Boeing
Shares of Meta plummeted on Wednesday after the company announced mixed results in its third-quarter earnings report, alongside billion-dollar losses in the division devoted to its ambitious “metaverse” project. The Facebook parent company beat analyst predictions for revenue but offered a weak forecast for the upcoming quarter. It posted $27. 7bn in revenue for the third quarter, higher than the $27. 4bn predicted but 4% less than the same period last year. Its earnings a share, which accounts for expenses, was $1.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Alphabet, Uber, Marks & Spencer
Alphabet revenue fell below analysts’ expectations in the third quarter, it announced on Tuesday, as it continues to battle an industry-wide tech slowdown. The company reported a third quarter revenue of $69bn, up 6% from last year but lower than analyst estimates of $70. 9bn. Like many tech and social media firms, Alphabet is struggling to compete with TikTok amid a broader economic downturn. – Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Big tech, mortgages, Glencore
The UK’s City watchdog is to examine how to regulate “big tech” companies such as Apple, Google and Amazon over fears they could harm competition in Britain’s financial services sector. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that big tech companies could provide innovations in financial services and drive down costs, but also expressed concerns that they could build dominant positions leading to the “potential exploitation of market power”, according to analysis published on Tuesday.
Monday newspaper round-up: Asos, Interserve, Sunak
Online fashion retailer Asos is poised to confirm that the billionaire retailer Mike Ashley has built up a stake of more than 5% in the company. Asos’s statement to investors could come as soon as Monday morning, before the London Stock Exchange reopens after the weekend. – Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Sunak, UK sovereign debt, Marks & Spencer
Rishi Sunak has confirmed he is in the running for the leadership of the Tory party, having failed to reach a deal with Boris Johnson overnight. The former Chancellor, who had won the backing of 130 Tory MPs, said: "The UK is a great country but we face a profound economic crisis. The choice our party makes now will decide whether the next generation of British people will have more opportunities than the last. That's why I am standing to be your prime minister and the leader of the conservative party.
Friday newspaper round-up: Musk, cost-of-living crisis, inflation
Elon Musk told prospective investors that he plans to eliminate nearly 75% of Twitter’s staff as part of his deal to take over the social media company, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. Job cuts are expected in the coming months no matter who owns the company, according to the report, which cited interviews and documents. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Train fares, Hargreaves Lansdown, postal strikes
Trade from the UK to the EU is down 16% on the levels anticipated had Brexit not happened, a new report has found. Meanwhile trade from the EU to the UK has dropped even further, by 20%, relative to a scenario in which Brexit had not occurred, according to research published on Wednesday by the Economic and Social Research Institute. – Guardian.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Fracking, Netflix, HSBC
Fracking caused an earthquake every day at the UK’s only active site at Preston New Road in Lancashire, analysis has found. Between 2018 and 2019, the site near Blackpool was responsible for 192 earthquakes over the course of 182 days , according to analysis of House of Commons Library data by the Liberal Democrats. – Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Eve Sleep, THG, Elliott Management
The business secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, has opened talks with Britain’s steelmakers amid concerns that thousands of jobs could be lost from the struggling industry. The government confirmed on Monday it had entered discussions with Tata Steel, owner of the UK’s largest steelworks in Port Talbot, south Wales, and Jingye Group, which bought British Steel out of insolvency in 2020. – Guardian.
Monday newspaper round-up: UK recession, Hargreaves Lansdown, City hiring
The UK is likely to enter a deeper recession than previously expected next year, while interest rates and inflation will be lower than forecast, according to revised analysis from Goldman Sachs. The US investment bank downgraded its outlook for Britain, in analysis released on Sunday, forecasting the UK economy would shrink by 1% next year, down from its previous estimate for a 0. 4% contraction. – Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Banks, Asos, UK defence spending
The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, may consider a windfall tax on banks that could raise as much as £90bn. Hunt has indicated that all options to balance the books are under review and he urgently needs to restore the UK's credibility. Just during the previous week, Bank of England deputy governor, Paul Tucker, urged the government to study the possibility of reducing the interest paid on some of the deposits of lenders with the bank. The potential savings from such a move could amount to £60-90bn.
Friday newspaper round-up: Elon Musk, bankers' bonuses, Netflix
Elon Musk is under a federal investigation related to his $44bn takeover of Twitter, the social media company has said in a court filing made public on Thursday. While the filing said he was under investigation, it did not say what the focus was, or which federal authorities were investigating. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Housing market, Greensill Capital, housebuilders
Homeowners will struggle to make mortgage repayments and repossessions will rise next year as soaring interest rates and falling prices mark the end of the UK’s 13-year housing market boom, according to a sobering report from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). The number of inquiries from potential homebuyers fell for a fifth month in a row in September, while sales fell to the lowest level since May 2020 when the housing market all but ground to a halt during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, it said.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Windfall tax, trade, pensions
Renewable power companies will have their revenues capped in England and Wales, after the government bowed to pressure to clamp down on runaway profits. The announcement late on Tuesday night provoked immediate accusations that Downing Street had performed “another screeching U-turn” – having previously rejected calls to impose a windfall tax on power giants. – Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Mortgage defaults, Community Fibre, Joules
Kwasi Kwarteng will need to find £60bn of savings by 2026 to fill the gap left by unfunded tax cuts and the costs of extra borrowing triggered by a panicked reaction on international money markets to the chancellor’s “mini-budget”, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The UK will also struggle to hit the chancellor’s 2. 5% growth target, with economic forecasts by the investment bank Citigroup that the IFS uses to underpin its analysis showing the UK will struggle to grow at more than 0.
Monday newspaper round-up: Amazon, Tesco, US banks
Amazon is investing more than €1bn (£880m) to add thousands more electric lorries, vans and cargo bikes to its sprawling fleet of delivery vehicles across Europe over the next five years. The online retailer said it would invest £300m in the UK, where it plans to have as many as 700 electric HGVs by 2025, up from just five today, and more than triple its fleet of electric vans to 10,000 across the continent. – Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Tiering, Virgin Orbit, Octopus Energy
The UK's biggest lenders may be facing a huge windfall tax as the Chancellor casts about for ways to calm financial markets, City sources said. The target may be some of the interest payments due to be paid on the hundreds of billions of pounds in deposits placed with the Bank of England, through what is known as 'tiering', mainly to the likes of Lloyds, NatWest and HSBC. That might net the Treasury approximately £10bn, at a cost of a fifth of major UK lenders' annual profits, according to estimates from Numis.