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Monday newspaper round-up: Gas prices, Virgin Money, OneWeb

(Sharecast News) - Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, will hold an emergency summit with gas industry chiefs on Monday morning in an effort to contain the fallout caused by soaring market prices on consumers and businesses. Mid-level suppliers will be placed into administration if they fall into trouble this winter in an attempt to protect consumers from costlier bills, he revealed on Sunday, after spending a frantic weekend thrashing out contingencies for Britain's looming gas crisis. - Guardian Campaigners have issued fresh calls for a windfall tax on companies that prospered during the pandemic, after research highlighted six firms that increased their profits by a total of £16bn. The outsourcing firm Serco and online clothes retailer Asos were among the companies that saw their global profits more than double over the last financial year, while one investment trust, Scottish Mortgage, saw its returns grow to nine times the average of preceding years. - Guardian

Brussels has opened the door to investing in OneWeb, the UK taxpayer-backed ­satellite broadband company, raising the prospect of a tie-up between Britain and the EU against Elon Musk's Starlink system. The European Commission has asked industry players and individuals to weigh in on the merits of backing a non-EU satellite provider as the bloc seeks to avoid being left behind in a global internet space race. Brussels has spent millions putting together proposals to build its own constellation of internet satellites but has made slow progress. - Telegraph

Virgin Money has been accused of "leaving charities in the lurch" by rejecting several takeover offers for its doomed charitable arm before pressing ahead with plans to shut it down. The Telegraph has learnt that the high street lender received a buyout offer from Virgin Money Giving's management, as well as a "blank cheque" proposal from a British entrepreneur. - Telegraph

Supermarket chains are trying to secure supplies of carbon dioxide after government talks with a big producer of the gas ended last night without a solution. Worries about empty shelves are increasing after operations at two fertiliser factories in northern England, which play a key role in the production of CO2, were shut last week because of the rising price of natural gas. - The Times

Pharmaceutical industry conferences have begun barring Vectura after Philip Morris International, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, acquired the respiratory drugs company last week in a contentious £1 billion takeover. The Drug Delivery to the Lungs conference (DDL), billed as the premier conference and industry exhibition dedicated to pulmonary and nasal drug delivery, has terminated Vectura's sponsorship and the company's representative has stood down from its committee. - The Times

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Tuesday newspaper round-up: Red Sea islands, BoE bond selling, energy imports
(Sharecast News) - Yemen's Houthi militants have seized two strategic islands in the Red Sea, reinforcing the Iran-backed group's ability to control a key shipping route, as concerns mount that the world is facing a new oil supply crisis. The seizure of the islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish is the latest in the militant group's swift advance across Yemen's Red Sea coast, after the capture of the port of Mokha and Perim island in the Bab al-Mandab strait. - Guardian
Monday newspaper round-up: hospitality businesses, rail passengers, Battersea Power Station
(Sharecast News) - Hundreds of UK hospitality businesses, backed by celebrity chefs including Angela Hartnett and Heston Blumenthal, have asked Andy Burnham to lay out plans to lower VAT for the sector, urging him to make good on his previous pledge. More than 800 businesses have written an open letter to the prime minister as part of the #VATsTheProblem campaign, to warn that without a "fairer tax burden for hospitality", there will be more closures and job losses, and fewer opportunities for young people. - Guardian
Friday newspaper round-up: Energy bills, triple lock, ONS data crisis
(Sharecast News) - Consumers will pay higher energy bills unless the UK government speeds up work on a vast programme of upgrades to the electricity grid to enable the switch to renewables, the public spending watchdog has warned. The National Audit Office (NAO) said that without faster action the extra costs associated with managing the ageing power network, which are ultimately passed on to the public, could reach £7.8bn a year by 2030. - Guardian
Thursday newspaper round-up: Migration, air traffic control, triple lock
(Sharecast News) - Andy Burnham must overhaul Shabana Mahmood's migration reforms or risk overstretching social care and fuelling far-right sentiment, the TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, has warned. Speaking ahead of the TUC's annual congress in Brighton next week, Nowak welcomed the "sense of optimism" around Burnham's fledgling government, but he urged the PM to act in a series of areas, including migration and the cost of living. - Guardian

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