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Sunday newspaper round-up: British economy, Stamp duty, Euro 2024

(Sharecast News) - Football fans have delivered a £3.1bn boost to the British economy over the past four weeks with £405m expected to be spent at pubs and restaurants for Sunday night's final alone. Over 17m Britons are expected to tune in from their local pub, bar or restaurant and splash out a combined £70.5m and another £280.1m at retailers. Tesco, for one, was anticipating sales of more than 1.0m pizzas and 180,000 packs of burgers between Friday and Sunday. - Sunday Telegraph

The government should bin stamp duty in order to give share trading and the wider economy a shot in the arm. Indeed, for Matt Beesley, the head of Jupiter Asset Management, there is an "urgent" need to encourage stock market investment. Beesley believes that such a move would provide a boost to the City "for years to come". An investor purchasing shares in a UK-listed firm must shell out 0.5% in stamp duty, as opposed to nothing when it is a foreign firm. - The Financial Mail on Sunday

Retailers have witnessed "huge" sales of no or low-alcohol drinks over the past few days in the run up to Sunday night's viewing parties of the Euro 2024 final. Waitrose had reported a one third jump in sales of alcohol-free beer this year and demand picked up further during the tournament as Britons looked to keep their drinking in check midweek. Hospitality research outfit KAM recently reported that 5.2m fewer adults drank alcohol on a weekly basis in 2023 when compared with 2021. - Guardian

Berkeley De Veer has disclosed a black hole in its accounts and is now attempting to postpone repayment on £68m of taxpayer funds that it used to fix Grenfell Tower-style cladding. In 2021, Berkeley, which was 50% owned by former Persimmon chief Jeff Fairburn, acquired Avant Homes by means of a leveraged buyout together with Wall Street investor Elliot. - The Sunday Times

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Thursday newspaper round-up: CMA, Riverford, Lloyds, Arm Holdings
(Sharecast News) - The appointment of the former boss of Amazon UK to lead the competition watchdog poses a threat to its independence and pledge to hold big tech to account, according to a group including tech companies and the former business secretary Vince Cable. The group - which includes the News Media Association, the Firefox developer Mozilla, the consumer group Which? and the Future of Technology Institute - has written to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to raise concerns about the appointment of Doug Gurr as the interim chair of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). - Guardian
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Thames Water, Johnson & Johnson, BoE
(Sharecast News) - Thames Water may need as much as £10bn in debt and equity investment to repair its finances, according to a representative of creditors hoping to lend the struggling utility another £3bn. London's high court heard evidence on Tuesday that suggested the UK's largest water company may need significantly more resources than the roughly £6.3bn it has previously indicated. - Guardian
Monday newspaper round-up: Zero-hours contracts, Barclays, Asos
(Sharecast News) - Hundreds of thousands of British workers are on zero-hours contracts despite being with the same employer for years, according to analysis from the TUC. The majority of zero-hours contract workers have been with their employer for more than 12 months, while one in eight have not been granted regular employment rights after more than a decade working in the same place, the organisation said. - Guardian
Friday newspaper round-up: Apple, Daily Mail, OpenAI, Homebase
(Sharecast News) - Apple slightly beat analysts' expectations in its first-quarter earnings for fiscal year 2025 on Thursday. The iPhone-maker's revenue rose by 4%, coming in at $124.30bn, barely above estimates of $124.12bn. Earnings per share were $2.40, just ahead of analysts' expectations of $2.35. Shares rose more than 8% in extended trading after CEO Tim Cook indicated in an earnings call on Thursday that Apple is on the trajectory for revenue growth next quarter. - 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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