Wednesday newspaper round-up: Apple, The Hut Group, Sterling

(Sharecast News) - Apple may slash the number of iPhone 13s it will make this year by up to 10m because of a shortage of computer chips amid a worldwide supply chain crunch that led the White House to warn that "there will be things that people can't get" at Christmas. Apple was expected to produce 90m units of the new iPhone models this year but has told its manufacturers that the number would be lower because chip suppliers including Broadcom and Texas Instruments were struggling to deliver components, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. - Guardian The EU will offer to remove a majority of post-Brexit checks on British goods entering Northern Ireland as it seeks to turn the page on the rancorous relationship with Boris Johnson. Up to 50% of customs checks on goods would be lifted and more than half the checks on meat and plants entering Northern Ireland would be abandoned under the bold offer from Brussels. - Guardian

Steel, chemical and ceramics manufacturers hit by soaring energy prices are to be offered state-backed rescue loans in return for limiting bosses' bonuses and dividends under plans being considered by ministers. Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, is understood to have submitted the proposal to the Treasury as one of several options to save energy-intensive companies from collapse in the face of rocketing wholesale gas prices. - Telegraph

The world's largest shipping firm has diverted giant cargo ships away from the UK, leading to fears of a shortage of toys, clothes and electronics at Christmas. Maersk, the Danish shipping giant, announced that larger vessels would be ordered to dock elsewhere in Europe to avoid growing congestion at Felixstowe Port in Suffolk caused in part by a shortage of lorry drivers. - Telegraph

A key investor presentation intended to soothe City jitters over The Hut Group backfired spectacularly yesterday when it was followed by a barrage of sell orders and £1.9 billion was wiped from the company's value. Matt Moulding, co-founder, chief executive and executive chairman of the online retailer, said at the start of the virtual meeting that he intended to set the record straight about the scepticism over the company's Ingenuity platform - doubts that have already led to some short-selling attacks on the company. - The Times

Traders are placing ever larger bets against the pound despite growing expectations that the Bank of England will soon raise interest rates to tame the UK's rocketing inflation. Positions that will pay out if sterling falls have been built at the quickest pace in more than two years, according to a Bloomberg report that cited data from America's Commodity Futures Trading Commission. - The Times