Tuesday newspaper round-up: Rolls-Royce, utilities, ITV, Softbank

(Sharecast News) - Rolls-Royce will move ahead with a multibillion pound plan to roll out a new breed of mini nuclear reactors after securing more than £450m from the government and investors. The engineering firm will set up a venture focused on developing small modular nuclear reactors, or SMRs, in partnership with investors BNF Resources and the US generator Exelon Generation with a joint investment of £195m to fund the plans over the next three years. - Guardian A government compromise aimed, ministers said, at cutting raw sewage dumping by water companies was passed by MPs on Monday after Conservative rebels backed ministers. Campaigners for clean water said they were disappointed that what they viewed as a less stringent amendment had been approved. They said the government's compromise was too weak and did not impose a legal duty on water companies to stop releasing raw sewage into waterways. - Guardian

The chairman of ITV is facing an investor rebellion over his role at an obscure investment trust amid claims that he and other directors have presided over a corporate governance fiasco. Sir Peter Bazalgette is under fire over his £17,500-a-year role as independent director at Edge Performance Venture Capital Trust (VCT). The campaign group ShareSoc claims the 68-year-old arts grandee "cannot be relied upon" after he failed to declare past links with Edge's fund manager, David Glick. - Telegraph

SoftBank has fallen into the red after Beijing's regulatory blitz against China's business elite knocked the valuation of technology companies. The Japanese investment giant lost 397 billion yen ($3.5 billion) in the three months to the end of September, compared with a profit of $5.5 billion year earlier. - The Times

Skills shortages are placing the growth of the UK's technology sector under threat, according to a long-running survey of bosses in the industry. Companies are experiencing acute hiring problems as three in five say that they intend to increase technology investment and two thirds are looking to boost staff numbers, which both stand at record levels, according to a report from the Harvey Nash recruitment group. - The Times