Friday newspaper round-up: Thames Water, Netflix, consumer confidence

(Sharecast News) - "Misleading" and "inconsistent" labels make it hard for shoppers to know where their food comes from, the consumer champion Which? has said, as it found supermarket chains were selling products with "meaningless" statements on their packaging. Retailers must supply the "country of origin" for specific foods including fresh fruit and vegetables, unprocessed meats, fish, wine and olive oil but the rules do not generally apply to processed meat or frozen or processed fruit and vegetables. - Guardian Thames Water could be renationalised, with the bulk of its £15.6bn debt added to the public purse, under radical plans being considered by the government, the Guardian can reveal. The blueprint, codenamed Project Timber, is being drawn up in Whitehall and would turn Britain's biggest water company into a publicly owned arm's-length body. Some lenders to its core operating company could lose up to 40% of their money under the plans. - Guardian

Netflix has enjoyed its strongest start to the year since 2020 as its password sharing crackdown boosted subscriber numbers. The streaming giant added a further 9.3m users in the first three months of the year, boosted by original hits such as Harlan Coben adaptation Fool Me Once and Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen. That compares to just 1.75m new subscribers in the same period last year, as the latest figures came in well ahead of analyst forecasts. - Telegraph

Consumer confidence rose to its highest level in two years in the last quarter, boosted by a sharp improvement in sentiment among younger people. Deloitte's consumer confidence index rose to a net balance of -11 per cent in the first three months of this year, up from a balance of -11.4 per cent in the previous quarter. The rise reflects a sustained decline in the rate of inflation, easing the pressure on consumer finances after they were rocked by the cost of living crisis. It represents a sixth consecutive quarter of rising confidence. - The Times

Shareholders in Home Reit are suing the scandal-hit "landlord for the homeless", which in turn is planning to take its former investment adviser to court. The company has confirmed that it has received a pre-action letter of claim from Harcus Parker, the law firm representing 300 or so shareholders, who have accused Home Reit of giving them "false, untrue and/or misleading" information. - The Times