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Sunday newspaper round-up: The Restaurant Group, Severn Trent, Facebook

(Sharecast News) - The Restaurant Group, owner of the Wagamama chain, is under increasing pressure to break up after TMR Capital proposed last week to management that it sell all its brands save that one. TMR was the fourth activist shareholder to make the case for change. Under the plans presented by TMR, Restaurant group should then focus on expanding the chain before going private via a sale. The clash on strategy comes amid a surge in the cost of ingredients, energy and salaries. - The Sunday Telegraph

Severn Trent and United Utilities are facing pressure to reduce their dividend payouts and bonuses in the wake of public consternation at the dumping of millions of tonnes of sewage into rivers and seas. In the case of United Utilities, the payouts are set to rise by 5% to £310m despite estimates pointing to losses at the water company as interest rate costs increase. Severn Trent meanwhile was expected to see its profits more than halve for the same reason. - Financial Mail on Sunday

An Irish regulator is planning to levy a £648m fine on Facebook, possibly as soon as Monday, and to order the social media giant to stop transferring data from its European users to the US. Facebook owner Meta was however expected to be granted a grace period to comply with the ruling from Ireland's Data Protection Commission. That could push the suspension of data transfers into the autumn and the company was expected to appeal. Furthermore, the US and EU have already agreed a new data transfer agreement at the political level, so that any suspension would be rendered meaningless. - Guardian

Legal & General Investment Management is at the fore of a revolt among McDonald's shareholders over the fast food giant's "overuse" of antibiotics and mass meat production. The asset manager was planning to table a resolution at the chain's annual meeting during the forthcoming week calling on it to institute WHO guidelines on drug use in its supply chain. The fear of those shareholders is that the company is fueling antimicrobial resistance which could lead to resistant superbugs in humans. Estimates are that AMR might cause £800m of economic damage by 2050. - Financial Mail on Sunday

Ministers are planning to scrutinise financial watchdogs more closely and to increase accountability for the decisions that they take in a bid to speed up the City of London's growth by adding an extra layer of independence to the framework for regulatory oversight. During the coming week, the Treasury would table an amendment to the Financial Services and Markets Bill that would give more powers to the Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner, which supervises the FCA, PSR and PRA, with the Treasury being given the power to select the FRCC's chief. - The Sunday Times

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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
Monday newspaper round-up: Service charge, BP, Heathrow, Elon Musk
(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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