• Friday newspaper round-up: Tata, Post Office, John Lewis, KPMG

  Friday 10 May 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Members of a steelworkers' union have voted to take industrial action in protest at planned job losses at Tata. The company last month rejected a plan by unions to keep open a blast furnace at the Port Talbot steelworks, ending hopes of avoiding as many as 2,800 job losses. - Guardian

• Thursday newspaper round-up: Tax rises, smart meters, Selfridges

  Thursday 09 May 2024

  (Sharecast News) - The next government will be forced to hit voters with post-election tax rises and delay net zero investment unless it is prepared to rip up Treasury rules for managing the state finances, a leading thinktank has said. The National Institute for Economic and Social Research (Niesr) called for a radical overhaul of the self-imposed constraints imposed on government borrowing and debt as it warned that persistently weak growth and lower inflation would make hitting the rules more difficult. - Guardian

• Wednesday newspaper round-up: E-gates, Mike Ashley, Brexit

  Wednesday 08 May 2024

  (Sharecast News) - More than 800,000 people in Europe and the US appear to have been duped into sharing card details and other sensitive personal data with a vast network of fake online designer shops apparently operated from China. An international investigation by the Guardian, Die Zeit and Le Monde gives a rare inside look at the mechanics of what the UK's Chartered Trading Standards Institute has described as one of the largest scams of its kind, with 76,000 fake websites created. - Guardian

• Tuesday newspaper round-up: House prices, employers, Wayve

  Tuesday 07 May 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Universal Music Group could become the latest company to face an embarrassing shareholder revolt this AGM season, after an influential advisory firm urged investors to reject an "excessive" €139m (£119m) payout for its chief executive, Lucian Grainge. Glass Lewis said it had "severe reservations" about supporting the Dutch-American music company's pay decisions, which included a €92m share-based bonus for its British-born CEO that easily made up for a 51% cut in his salary, to €7.5m. - Guardian

• Sunday newspaper round-up: Darktrace, National Insurance, Royal Mail

  Sunday 05 May 2024

  (Sharecast News) - An aura of mystery continues to linger over whether the biggest of Darktrace's shareholders are prepared to support Thoma Bravo's £4.2bn takeover. Among those is Mike Lynch, who is currently facing trial in the US over fraud claims linked to executive search software outfit Autonomy. Also unclear is the position of the Darktrace Employee Benefit Trust, which owned just under 8% of the company's shares. The trust is managed by Equiniti, which has nothing to do with the decision. - The Financial Mail on Sunday

• Friday newspaper round-up: Paramount Global, Apple, Coutts

  Friday 03 May 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Paramount Global's share price soared on Thursday following a report that Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management had made a $26bn offer for the troubled media giant. According to the Wall Street Journal, the offer was made on Wednesday by Sony's chief executive, Tony Vinciquerra, and Aaron Sobel, a partner at Apollo. Paramount's shares rose 12% on the news. - Guardian

• Thursday newspaper round-up: Online gamblers, PwC, London taxi drivers

  Thursday 02 May 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Online gamblers who lose £500 or more a month are to face extra checks from August, the regulator has confirmed, as part of a large package of measures aimed at protecting the most vulnerable customers. The extra checks come in from 30 August, and the threshold for qualifying will fall to £150 of online betting losses a month from 28 February next year, the Gambling Commission said. - Guardian

• Wednesday newspaper round-up: Amazon, dividends, Weardale Lithium

  Wednesday 01 May 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Amazon profits soared once again in the first quarter of 2024, the company announced on Tuesday - the latest in a series of robust earnings reports for the retail giant. The company attributed the boost to artificial intelligence and advertising sales. Amazon reported overall revenue of $143.3bn in the first three months of the year - up 13% from the same period in 2023 and surpassing Wall Street expectations of $142.65bn. The e-commerce giant reported an increase of more than 200% to $15bn, with net income more than tripling to $10.4bn from $3.17bn at the same time in 2023. - Guardian

• Tuesday newspaper round-up: Meta, ExxonMobil, Very Group

  Tuesday 30 Apr 2024

  (Sharecast News) - The Federal Communications Commission on Monday fined the largest US wireless carriers nearly $200m for illegally sharing access to customers' location information. The FCC is finalizing fines first proposed in February 2020, including $80m for T-Mobile; $12m for Sprint, which T-Mobile has since acquired; $57m for AT&T, and nearly $47m for Verizon. - Guardian

• Monday newspaper round-up: Thames Water, Brexit, Babylon

  Monday 29 Apr 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Senior Whitehall officials fear Thames Water's financial collapse could trigger a rise in government borrowing costs not seen since the chaos of the Liz Truss mini-budget, the Guardian can reveal. Such is their concern about the impact on wider borrowing costs for the UK, even beyond utilities and infrastructure, that they believe Thames should be renationalised before the general election. Officials in the Treasury and the UK's Debt Management Office fear that, unless the UK's biggest water company is renationalised as soon as possible, "prolonged uncertainty" about its fate could "damage confidence in UK plc at a sensitive time", with elections in the UK and the US later this year. - Guardian

• Sunday newspaper round-up: Royal Mail, Shein, Canary Wharf

  Sunday 28 Apr 2024

  (Sharecast News) - The heads of the Communication Workers Union have acquiesced to Royal Mail's demand to end six-day-a-week letter deliveries, paving the way for historic cuts to postal services. Royal Mail wants to amend its universal service obligation so that it must only deliver second-class post every other day. Nonetheless, first-class mail would continue to be delivered on Saturday, union sources said. Ofcom has yet to respond to Royal Mail's proposals. - The Sunday Times

• Friday newspaper round-up: Microsoft, mortgage rates, Boeing, Alphabet, Trump

  Friday 26 Apr 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Microsoft beat Wall Street estimates for its third-quarter revenue last night, driven by gains from artificial intelligence adoption across its cloud services and business software products. The company said its revenues had risen to $61.9 billion, up by 17 per cent and exceeding the $60.8 billion, or 15 per cent rise, that had been forecast. Its net income was $21.9 billion, up by 20% from the year before. - The Times

• Thursday newspaper round-up: Matchesfashion, Burberry, Boeing

  Thursday 25 Apr 2024

  (Sharecast News) - The UK competition watchdog has stepped up its scrutiny of big tech involvement in artificial intelligence startups, asking for comment on three deals by Microsoft and Amazon. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced that it was examining Microsoft's investment in the French firm Mistral and the hiring of the DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman as head of the US company's new AI division. The watchdog is also scrutinising Amazon's $4bn (£3.2bn) investment in the US AI firm Anthropic. - Guardian

• Wednesday newspaper round-up: UK banks, Tesla, KPMG

  Wednesday 24 Apr 2024

  (Sharecast News) - UK banks are leaving themselves open to "severe, unexpected losses", by failing to properly measure how exposed they are to the $8tn private equity industry, the Bank of England has warned. In a speech on Tuesday, Rebecca Jackson, a senior executive at the central bank, said there was a "creeping sense of complacency" among lenders, who - despite a boom in loans and financing to the sector - had almost no ability to put together data "or even appreciate its crucial importance". - Guardian

• Tuesday newspaper round-up: P&O Ferries, TikTok, CVC

  Tuesday 23 Apr 2024

  (Sharecast News) - P&O Ferries seafarers have been told they will benefit from new French legislation that could double their pay, in what appears to be a significant U-turn by the controversial ferry operator. The move comes more than two years after P&O enraged the UK and French governments by sacking 786 workers and then taking advantage of a legal loophole to hire replacements on pay rates of below the minimum wage. - Guardian

• Monday newspaper round-up: Renewable energy, BlackRock, Frasers Group

  Monday 22 Apr 2024

  (Sharecast News) - A development company that sells off land no longer needed by Thames Water has paid out a £14m dividend despite warnings that it could become engulfed by the water group's financial woes. Accounts filed at Companies House show Kennet Properties paid out a £14.5m dividend in the year to 31 March 2023 despite the difficulties faced by the wider group, which is facing going into administration. - Guardian

• Sunday newspaper round-up: IDS, Ocado, Foxtons

  Sunday 21 Apr 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Asset manager Redwheel told regulators they should reduce the UK postal service's legal obligations. The move followed a failed buyout attempt by Daniel Kretinsky for International Distributions Services, its parent company. The billionaire investor was said to be evaluating a possible improved bid. The company meanwhile has petitioned Ofcom to let it cut the number of days per week during which it must deliver second-class mail from six to two or three. That would save the company £300m and see it shrink its workforce by 1,000. According to Redwheel, as first reported by the Sunday Times, the enforced costs of its legal obligations left the company "vulnerable to corporate predators". - Guardian

• Friday newspaper round-up: Thames Water, Netflix, consumer confidence

  Friday 19 Apr 2024

  (Sharecast News) - "Misleading" and "inconsistent" labels make it hard for shoppers to know where their food comes from, the consumer champion Which? has said, as it found supermarket chains were selling products with "meaningless" statements on their packaging. Retailers must supply the "country of origin" for specific foods including fresh fruit and vegetables, unprocessed meats, fish, wine and olive oil but the rules do not generally apply to processed meat or frozen or processed fruit and vegetables. - Guardian

• Thursday newspaper round-up: Royal Mail, welfare bill, Boeing, Alstom, Federal Reserve

  Thursday 18 Apr 2024

  (Sharecast News) - The Labour Party is open to the prospect of a takeover of the owner of Royal Mail by the struggling postal group's Czech billionaire investor, which is considering a renewed approach. EP Group, a conglomerate controlled by Daniel Kretinsky, revealed on Tuesday that it had made a "non-binding indicative proposal" to the board of International Distributions Services (IDS), Royal Mail's parent company, on April 9 seeking its recommendation for a possible cash offer for the remainder of the shares it does not already own. - The Times

• Wednesday newspaper round-up: IMF, champagne, Boeing, Plus500, Trump Media

  Wednesday 17 Apr 2024

  (Sharecast News) - Rising energy prices and disruption to international shipping risk "stalling" declines in inflation in leading economies, the International Monetary Fund has warned, telling central banks that the "last mile" of their battle against price rises may be the hardest. In its latest assessment of global ­financial stability, the IMF said markets were vulnerable to another round of volatility if investors continued to push back their expectations for interest rate cuts this year, leading to falls in bond and stock prices. - The Times

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