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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.

Sunday newspaper round-up: BP, Smith&Nephew, TalkTalk

(Sharecast News) - Activist investor Bluebell has asked for BP chairman Helge Lund's head due to the oil giant's "embarrassing" share price performance. Whilst Shell or American rivals Chevron and ExxonMobil had doubled down on profitable fossil fuels, BP had followed a green strategy. Reports indicate that BP's new boss, Murray Auchinloss, was looking to pivot back to oil and gas in response to pressure from shareholders. Yet the company had not confirmed those reports and was not due to provide a strategy update until February. - Financial Mail on Sunday

Dragoneye, the London-based research outfit for short-sellers, has accused Smith & Nephew of deploying "aggressive" accounting techniques to boost its profit margins. The self-proclaimed "financial detectives" allege that the manufacturer inappropriately deferred costs and did not properly account for stock write-offs. The result, Dragoneye says, has been to boost the company's profit margins last year by 1.7 percentage points to 17.5%. - The Sunday Times

Deloitte has quit as TalkTalk's auditor after more than two decades in the role. The firm said the rotation had been planned during the previous year, following the broadband group's break-up. RSM will replace it. The change also comes as TalkTalk is facing another squeeze on its finances. Shareholders recently injected £235m into TalkTalk to keep it from collapsing, but analysts are still worried about its debt servicing costs. - The Sunday Telegraph

A multitude of Labour MPs are vehemently asking the Chancellor to spend tens of billions more on creaking public services as part of her budget, which is expected to include tax hikes on employers and wealthy individuals. In a huge gamble, Rachel Reeves is studying a boost to employers- national insurance contributions. - Guardian

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(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk escalated his feud with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Monday. The billionaire is leading a consortium of investors that announced it had submitted a bid of $97.4bn for "all assets" of the artificial intelligence company to OpenAI's board of directors. The startup, which operates ChatGPT, has been working to restructure itself away from its original non-profit status. OpenAI also operates a for-profit subsidiary, and Musk's unsolicited offer could complicate the company's plans. The Wall Street Journal first reported the proposed bid. - Guardian
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(Sharecast News) - An increasingly complex tax system is burdening the government and businesses with hundreds of millions of pounds more in administration costs, Whitehall's spending watchdog has warned. The report by the National Audit Office (NAO) also said "poor levels of service" meant some taxpayers and their representatives were "finding it more difficult to deal with their tax matters and are losing trust in HM Revenue & Customs [HMRC]". - 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.

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