Friday newspaper round-up: Elliott Management, John Lewis, Specsavers

(Sharecast News) - The US hedge fund and notorious activist investor Elliott Management paid its 124 UK staff a combined £160m last year, after a 10% rise in annual profits. The pay pot is higher than the £137m shared by employees the previous year, and comes after its UK operation, Elliott Advisors UK, reported pre-tax profits up by a tenth to £10m. Turnover for the firm, which made headlines after throwing its hat into the ring to buy Manchester United earlier this year, rose 16% to £225m. - Guardian John Lewis is ditching its offer of free food for workers over the Christmas period, as the retail giant embarks on another round of cost-cutting. The retailer has offered seasonal workers free Sunday roasts and cooked breakfasts for the last two years running but confirmed that Christmas staff will not get the perk this year. - Telegraph

Governments spent $800bn (£633bn) more on energy subsidies last year than in 2020 in the wake of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, as nations around the world opened the purse strings to limit the pain of higher bills. Direct subsidies for fossil fuels jumped to $1.3 trillion in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund, up from $500bn in 2020. - Telegraph

The Specsavers chain has paid out a £15 million dividend to its parent company in Guernsey as the businesses sought to limit price rises for customers amid the cost of living crisis. Accounts for Specsavers Optical Superstores - whose ultimate controlling parties are Dame Mary Perkins and her husband, Doug - show a dividend was granted after no payouts were approved in the prior year. - The Times

The Serious Fraud Office has dropped two long-running, high-profile investigations in the latest blow to the agency's credibility before the arrival of its new director. A criminal investigation into Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) launched a decade ago and a separate corruption investigation into Rio Tinto, the FTSE 100 mining giant, have ended. - The Times