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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: Sky-high electricity prices, Royal Mail, Olaf Scholz

(Sharecast News) - The Chancellor is examining the options that it has at its disposal for bailing out businesses that might otherwise go bust next winter due to sky-high electricity prices. Government sources said Nadhim Zahawi believed that repurposing Covid schemes to help businesses should be among those options. Other options on the table include grants for small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as VAT and business rates holidays. Another source however said supports for SME's would be dependant on the next Prime Minister's appetite for increased borrowing. - The Sunday Times Royal Mail is facing a summer of discontent as its union demands with a potential price tag of £1bn, even as it calls for shorter working weeks and threatens the company with a series of strikes. The company says the union is clinging to outdated working practices, ignoring technological change and changes to the services the public was demanding from it. It has also already warned that it might split its businesses if it was not able to enact "significant operational change'. - The Financial Mail on Sunday

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's popularity has hit a record low after he alleged lapses in memory in relation to his role in a tax fraud scandal known as CumEx. According to Bild am Sonntag, only a quarter of Germans said they were happy with his Scholz's work thus far, while 62% were unhappy, the latter having risen from 39% in March. It was believed that the CumEx scheme had allowed banks and investors to claim multiple tax rebates which had cost European governments as much as €55bn. - The Sunday Telegraph

Drax received billions of pounds in public money despite warnings to minister that using trees as fuel is worse for the environment than using coal. Those findings were made in a government report published in 2014, despite Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng's assurances that the plant's eco-credentials were not in doubt. The company will receive £11bn of subsidies following the conversion of most of its North Yorkshire plant so that it can run on so-called biomass. But the plant uses whole trees for a third of the wood it burns, instead of the forest residues which are indeed more eco-friendly than coal. - The Sunday Telegraph

IWG Boss Mark Dixon says people focused on whether people want to work from home or not are missing the fact that what really matters is the commute. People do want to work in an office and socialise, but want to avoid two hours trips there and back and spending £5,000 on a train season ticket and parking. Hence, he is gambling that permanent hybrid working will include work from local shares offices nearer to people's homes. - Financial Mail on Sunday

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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
Thursday newspaper round-up: Car production, UK retailers, water bills, KPMG
(Sharecast News) - The architect of a ban on newspaper takeovers by foreign states has demanded that an Abu Dhabi fund be forced to sell The Telegraph by Easter. Baroness Stowell, the Conservative chairman of the Lords communications and digital committee, said the Government should impose an ultimatum on RedBird IMI. It should be backed by the threat of regulatory action, she said, to strip the fund of control of what has been dubbed "the newspaper auction from hell". - Telegraph

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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