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Important information: The value of investments can go down as well as up so you may get back less than you invest. Investors should note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon. This is a third-party news feed and may not reflect Fidelity’s views.

Wednesday newspaper round-up: Oxford Instruments, Asda, Bulb, Netflix

(Sharecast News) - A few weeks after a short-lived £1.7 billion bid to take over the rival Oxford Instruments, Spectris, the FTSE 250 precision engineering group, has sold off a large part of its own business for £400 million. The chief executive has made it clear, though, that it could revive an Oxford Instruments deal. - The Times Shares in a technology start-up part-owned by the UK taxpayer lost 16 per cent of their value yesterday after reports that the business had issued "misleading" financial projections and "overstated its prospects" to investors. Arqit Quantum, a Nasdaq-listed IT security company backed by Rishi Sunak's Future Fund, claimed before the completion of a Spac merger that the business had $130 million in "signed committed revenue contracts". - The Times

Asda's private equity owner has claimed the value of its investment in the supermarket chain has soared by nearly 20 times as it gears up for a potential bid for the pharmacy chain Boots. The London-based TDR Capital said its stake as co-owner of the grocer was now worth €1.7bn (£1.4bn) on paper, or 19.8 times its original investment, indicating that the finance group put in just over £70m of fresh cash to back the deal, according to documents seen by the Financial Times. - Guardian

The boss of collapsed company Bulb Energy has been criticised for continuing to draw a £250,000 salary, funded by UK taxpayers. Once the seventh-biggest energy supplier, Bulb was effectively nationalised in November 2021 after collapsing amid the surge in global energy prices. That left the taxpayer with a potential bill of up to £3bn, making it the biggest state bailout since the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2008. - Guardian

Netflix has admitted that its number of subscribers is falling for the first time in more than a decade, partly as a result of its decision to pull out of Russia. The US streaming giant lost 200,000 subscribers in the first three months of the year, far below Wall Street predictions that it would add 2.5m subscribers. Netflix shares plummeted 26pc in after-hours trading as it warned it would lose a further 2m subscribers in the second quarter of the year. - Telegraph

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Wednesday newspaper round-up: Amazon, dividends, Weardale Lithium
(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
(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
(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 share tips: Centrica, Lancashire Holdings
(Sharecast News) - The Sunday Times's Lucy Tobin told her readers to book their profits in Centrica and 'sell'.

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.

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