Thursday newspaper round-up: Britishvolt, car production, Home Reit

(Sharecast News) - The battery startup Britishvolt owed as much as £120m to creditors when it collapsed last week in a major blow to hopes of sustaining the British car industry, it can be revealed. Creditors are expected to recover a very small proportion of the debts, according to a source with knowledge of the matter, although there are understood to be several bids for the company and its assets. EY, a professional services firm, is handling the administration. - Guardian More than £1m was paid to energy customers with Octopus Energy on Tuesday as part of a power saving scheme. The energy supplier said more than 400,000 customers took part by reducing their electricity use between 4.30pm and 6pm. National Grid's Demand Flexibility Scheme kicked in for the first time on Monday amid cold temperatures, meaning more energy was being used while less energy was being generated by wind power. - Guardian

Ministers are preparing to invest at least £1bn in Britain's computer chip industry in a challenge China's dominance of the sector. The Government's long-awaited semiconductor strategy is expected to include proposals to subsidise early-stage electronic chip businesses and linked research activity, sources said. - Telegraph

Car production in Britain has plunged a further 10 per cent to new lows not seen since the 1950s, when Sir Anthony Eden was prime minister. UK car factories produced only 775,000 vehicles in 2022, down from the 859,000 that rolled off assembly lines in 2021, itself the worst year since 1956, a year before the British automotive industry was transformed by the start of mass production of the Mini. - The Times

Home Reit, the struggling "landlord for the homeless", has admitted that a "significant number" of its tenants, including its largest, have fallen behind on their rent. The company had sought to emphasise the reliable nature of its income and its "robust tenants", claiming in November that it had no rent arrears for the period up to the end of August. - The Times