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Wednesday newspaper round-up: Britishvolt, Fox Corp/News Corp, energy suppliers

(Sharecast News) - An Australian-based startup, Recharge Industries, has made a nonbinding offer for the collapsed UK battery company Britishvolt that could revive plans to construct a large plant in northern England. The bid was lodged in the UK late on Tuesday, shortly after a cash crunch at Britishvolt sent the company into administration. The collapse has severely dented the country's attempts to modernise its automotive industry and supply the next generation of UK-built electric vehicles. - Guardian Rupert Murdoch has scrapped a proposal to combine Fox Corp with News Corp, in a deal that would have reunited the media empire he split nearly a decade ago. In 2013, shareholders approved a plan to divide the media giant's assets, which include the Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Australian, from its entertainment division in the wake of the UK's phone hacking scandal. Murdoch said at the time that the separation would "unlock the true value of both companies and their distinct assets". - Guardian

Britain was exporting power to Ireland even as British households were asked to cut their usage on Monday night, export flows show. Traders sent electricity via undersea cables to Northern Ireland and the Republic while thousands of British households avoided activities such as running the washing machine to save electricity in Britain. - Telegraph

Businesses came under increasing financial stress in the final months of last year as people reined in spending in response to rising household bills. The number of companies in critical financial distress jumped by 36 per cent in the final quarter, according to a report by Begbies Traynor, the insolvency specialist. - The Times

Two of Britain's biggest energy suppliers have admitted they have not passed on taxpayer-funded discounts in the bills of their small business customers. Both British Gas, which supplies more than 350,000 organisations with electricity and gas, and SSE Energy Solutions, the non-domestic division of SSE that provides energy to half a million customers, said a "small number" were affected, but declined to say how many. - The Times

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Friday newspaper round-up: Nigel Farage, diesel prices, Kraken Technology
(Sharecast News) - Chancellor Rachel Reeves is to announce a new City "skills compact" that will commit firms such as Barclays and Lloyds to retraining thousands of financial sector workers for the AI revolution. The financial services skills compact will be launched on Tuesday, during what is likely to be Reeves's final Mansion House speech to City bosses before Andy Burnham's expected takeover of No 10. The government-backed initiative will commit employers to improving workers' skills and helping them "keep pace" with significant technological changes that have prompted fears of mass redundancies. - Guardian
Thursday newspaper round-up: UK vets, Sizewell B, Terry Smith
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Wednesday newspaper round-up: Regional income divide, John Lewis, mortgages
(Sharecast News) - Britain's deep regional income divide has barely changed in 30 years despite the promises of successive governments to narrow the gap, according to a report showing the challenge for Andy Burnham. As the prime minister-in-waiting prepares for government, the Resolution Foundation said almost no progress had been made since 1997 to tackle stark divisions in household income, before housing costs are taken into account, between the richest and poorest parts of the country. - Guardian
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Gambling customers, student loan repayments, Russian bankruptcies
(Sharecast News) - The Scottish government is about to consider a sweeping moratorium on building new datacentres, putting a key plank of the UK's AI strategy at risk. Last Sunday the Scottish National party (SNP)'s national council passed a motion to freeze all new datacentres in Scotland. That motion has been sent to the Scottish government to consider. It could apply to all datacentre projects that have not yet received planning permission - although its exact implementation is up to the Scottish government to decide. - Guardian

Important information: This information is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment you should speak to one of Fidelity’s advisers or an authorised financial adviser of your choice. When you are thinking about investing in shares, it’s generally a good idea to consider holding them alongside other investments in a diversified portfolio of assets. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.