Thursday newspaper round-up: Bet365, homeworkers, Link Fund Solutions
The boss of gambling website Bet365, Denise Coates, was paid nearly half a billion pounds in salary and dividends last year, as the latest in a string of record-breaking awards took her total pay since 2016 to nearly £1.3bn. After an unusual delay in filing its accounts at Companies House, Bet365 revealed that its highest-paid director, understood to be Coates as chief executive, received £421m – or £48,000 every hour of every day throughout the 12-month period. In its accounts, the company said its pay arrangements were “appropriate and fair”. - Guardian
Approximately 2 million of the UK’s lowest-paid workers will receive a raise from Thursday after increases to statutory minimum wage rates. However, many workers are unlikely to feel better off as the pay rise comes on the same day as inflation-busting increases hit household bills. Workers aged 23-24 are expected be the biggest beneficiaries after the government announced that they will start receiving the new minimum living wage of £8.91 a hour – up from the £8.20 a hour they are currently entitled to. - Guardian
Homeworkers banished to studies and spare bedrooms did not suffer a productivity slump at most firms after Covid hit - with a third of businesses even finding they could get more done, according to new research. A report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that remote working did not cause a fall in productivity at 71pc of firms, suggesting many could make the shift permanent after the crisis ends. - Telegraph
A key part of Sanjeev Gupta’s metals empire is on the brink of insolvency, threatening the entire GFG Alliance group, as Credit Suisse seeks a winding-up order of Liberty Commodities. Citigroup, acting on behalf of the Swiss bank, has applied to a UK court for the order, Bloomberg reported. - The Times
The company that oversaw the business of Neil Woodford has revealed that it knew of his relationship with an American firm that was selling assets in his former fund only by reading about it in the press. Link Fund Solutions, which ultimately was in charge of the failed Woodford Equity Income Fund, said that it had had no idea that he was an adviser to Acacia Research. - The Times