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Wednesday newspaper round-up: Four day working week, Post Office, Linklaters

(Sharecast News) - Campaigners for a four-day working week are preparing a new pilot project on flexible working in the hope that the Labour government will be more receptive to changes in how people work. The pilot project has opened to companies to sign up for a November start, with findings to be presented to the government in the summer of 2025. - Guardian The former chair of a Whitehall agency responsible for taxpayers' interest in the Post Office has blamed the Horizon IT scandal on a mixture of "incomplete curiosity" and "a toxic culture" at the state-owned company. Robert Swannell, a veteran City businessman and former Marks & Spencer chair, was speaking on Tuesday before the judge-led public inquiry investigating why post office operators were wrongly prosecuted for theft and false accounting over financial discrepancies linked to bugs within the Horizon IT system. - Guardian

Top partners at magic circle law firm Linklaters have taken home almost £2m each after a bounce back in deal-making. Average payouts for equity partners increased 8pc to £1.9m in the year to April, as revenues at the firm surpassed £2bn for the first time. Paul Lewis, managing partner at Linklaters, said the firm had benefited from an "exceptional year" as pre-tax profits jumped 10pc to £942m and revenue increased to £2.1bn. - Telegraph

A growing number of FTSE chief executives are being impersonated by fraudsters who are using artificial intelligence to create convincing deepfake clones, The Times can reveal. A number of these sophisticated "CEO scams" have received publicity in recent months but many more are going unreported, according to cybersecurity experts. - The Times

Business confidence climbed to its highest point in two years over the last three months, helped by falling inflation and forecasts for better sales, a survey showed. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales business confidence index jumped to 16.7 in the second quarter of this year, up from 14.4 in the previous three months and the highest reading since the first quarter of 2022. - The Times

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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
Sunday newspaper round-up: Etihad float, Shein, Thames Water
(Sharecast News) - Abu Dhabi based carrier Etihad is planning to float a stake of up to 20% on the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange. Sources indicate that it could command a valuation of $5bn (£4bn). It would be the second such transaction for its boss, Antonoaldo Neves. In 2017, the former McKinsey partner floated Azul, Brazil's third-largest airline, on the New York Stock Exchange. For Neves, any airline that aspires to be "relevant" needs to tap into different sources of capital. Its goal is to fly 170 jets by 2030, up from 93 at present. - The Sunday Times
Friday newspaper round-up: Gambling sector, FOS, Amazon
(Sharecast News) - The gambling regulator has accidentally handed over more than 4,000 sensitive documents to lawyers acting for the media tycoon Richard Desmond, in an "unprecedented" blunder during its legal battle over the £6.4bn national lottery contract, the Guardian understands. Northern & Shell (N&S), the investment group owned by Desmond, is suing the Gambling Commission for £200m in damages over its handling of the lottery licence award process. - Guardian
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

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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