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 Employees of Riverford will share in a payout of £1.3m after the organic vegetable box company more than doubled profits last year. More than 1,000 staff at the Devon-based group, which began making deliveries from an old Citroën in 1993, will receive about £1,000 each as the employee-owned company nearly tripled its annual payout to workers. - Guardian

Lloyds Banking Group has been hit with a £1bn tax bill after it lost a key legal battle against HMRC. A tribunal in London ruled against Lloyds after the bank attempted to claw back losses related to property loans from its business in Ireland in the wake of the financial crisis. - Telegraph

Ed Miliband risks destroying the UK's reputation if he blocks Britain's two biggest offshore oil and gas developments, the boss of energy giant Equinor has warned. Anders Opedal, chief executive, said the Energy Secretary had to issue new permits for the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields to ensure the UK is a "predictable country for investors". - Telegraph

Arm Holdings, one of Britain's most successful technology companies, beat Wall Street sales expectations after reporting strong demand for its chip designs. The Cambridge company, which floated on the Nasdaq exchange in New York in September 2023, reported a 19 per cent rise in revenue to $983 million for the third fiscal quarter, well ahead of analyst estimates of $949.3 million. Net income rose to $252 million, from $87 million a year earlier. - The Times

Some of Britain's biggest retailers are urging the government to follow Donald Trump's lead and close a tax loophole being exploited by China's Shein and Temu. Bosses behind Ryman, Robert Dyas, Superdry and Gieves & Hawkes have called for the UK to scrap the "unfair" clause that has allowed Chinese ecommerce giants to avoid paying customs duties by shipping small orders directly to customers. - The Times