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Sunday newspaper round-up: HSBC, North Sea, Capita

(Sharecast News) - The heads of HSBC are facing a major public standoff with those of its shareholders who are keen to break up the lender. Those include its largest shareholder, Chinese insurer Ping An, which has been pushing for a spin off of its lucrative Asian business and which has redoubled its efforts in recent weeks. Ping An is expected to vote for two proposals from a group of angry Hong Kong retail investors calling for a regular strategy review and a higher dividend. - The Financial Mail on Sunday Government's windfall tax on UK oil and gas companies is exceedingly counterproductive. Just over a year ago, North Sea producers were being charged 30% tax plus a supplementary 10% levy. Since then, the tax on North Sea profits has jumped to 65% and now 75%. Yet the sector employs 25,000 while oil and gas meets about three quarters of the UK's total energy needs. Furthermore, North Sea energy involves less carbon emissions than relying on gas drilled in the US and Qatar. The country is also facing triple-digit deficits for years to come. So what is needed is not sky-high taxes but pro-growth policies that would in turn make the debt more manageable. - The Sunday Telegraph

Hundreds of pension funds have been asked by the Pensions Regulator to look into whether the details of millions of people fell into the hands cybercriminals from abroad as a result of the hack at Capita. The outsourcer's IT systems process the pensions of roughly 4.5m people and could potentially leave them exposed to scams or phone calls from unscrupulous investment companies. The company was also a provider of consulting services to 150 pension schemes in the UK. - The Sunday Times

Workers in Britain were increasingly more likely to continue working into their 70s, a study published on International Workers' Day found. Faced with the cost of living crisis, older people were being left with scant choice but to do so. The number of people 70 or older who were still working last year jumped by 61% in comparison to 2012 to reach 446,601. The majority are males but women haven seen the largest increase. That however is likely the result of the gradual equalisation of pension ages between 2010 and 2020. - Guardian

John Lewis will reduce the size of its headquarters in central London by over half in response to the thousands of its staff working from home. The plan to change offices next year however is not driven by a desire to cut costs, according to insiders, but simply a reflection that half of its office space at that location was now not being used with entire floors having been closed off completely. - The Sunday Telegraph

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(Sharecast News) - California's home-insurance safety net does not have enough money to pay all of the claims from damage caused by the Los Angeles wildfires and has asked private insurers to contribute $1bn toward those claims. All private insurers operating in California are required to contribute to the Fair plan, a plan of last resort established so all Californians would have access to fire insurance. More than 450,000 California homeowners got their insurance through the Fair plan in 2024 - more than double the number in 2020. As of 4 February, the plan had received more than 4,700 claims from the Palisades and Eaton fires, almost half of which were for "total losses". - Guardian
Wednesday newspaper round-up: British economy, Heathrow, FOS
(Sharecast News) - The British economy is on course to expand by 1.5% this year after the budget gave a boost to public spending but could be blown off course if Donald Trump goes ahead with threatened tariffs, a leading economic thinktank has warned. In a boost to Rachel Reeves after a bruising month of negative economic figures, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) upped its annual growth prediction from 1.2% to 1.5%. - Guardian
Tuesday newspaper round-up: OpenAI, EVs, gas prices
(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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