Thursday newspaper round-up: Women bosses, Swedish inflation, Odey

(Sharecast News) - UK businesses have improved female representation on their boards, research shows, but two-fifths of FTSE 100 firms still do not have a woman in one of their top four executive roles. The proportion of women on the boards of the 585 FTSE all-share listed companies has risen over the past year from 36% to 40%, according to the analysis of Companies House data. - Guardian

Beyoncé has been blamed for keeping inflation stubbornly high in Sweden after more than 40,000 fans flocked to Stockholm last month to watch the singer begin her world tour. Economists said the artist, who launched her Renaissance tour in the Swedish capital with two sold-out concerts, helped to drive a surge in hotel and accommodation costs. - Telegraph

An influential group of MPs has ordered the City watchdog to reveal the extent of its investigation into Odey Asset Management following "deeply troubling" allegations made against the firm's founder. In a letter to bosses at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Harriett Baldwin, chairman of the Treasury committee, called for the regulator to disclose more information about its oversight of the scandal-hit hedge fund. - Telegraph

Dawood Pervez says tongue-in-cheek that Britain's thousands of local convenience stores are as beloved as the country's pubs and bridleways but he's deadly serious in his commitment to promote and protect the wholesale network that supports them. The Old Etonian, and a lawyer by training, is the son of Sir Anwar Pervez, the immigrant founder of Bestway, Britain's second-biggest wholesaler after Tesco's Booker. - The Times

Equity finance provision for small and medium-sized companies fell sharply in the second half of last year as venture capital firms responded to economic strife and a sell-off in technology stocks, according to the government's economic development agency. A report by the British Business Bank said that 2022 was a tale of "two halves", with a record level of investment in businesses in the first two quarters. However, concerns about potential overvaluations, a lack of sale opportunities and rising interest rates and inflation caused a 47 per cent reduction in investment in the second half of the year compared with the first. - The Times