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Wednesday newspaper round-up: Stealth taxes, Lotus, PayPal

(Sharecast News) - Almost 13,000 offshore companies holding UK property have failed to declare their ultimate owners and may now face fines and a ban on selling their land, the government has said. Martin Callanan, a business minister, praised the introduction of the new register of overseas owners of UK properties, saying it had been "invaluable for tax and revenue services, bringing transparency to opaque offshore trusts often used to obscure assets for tax purposes". - Guardian

Stealth taxes are hitting higher earners more than expected, with rising wages helping the Treasury to rake in an extra £12bn alone last year, according to the Government's spending watchdog. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said a stronger jobs market meant more people were dragged into paying the 40p rate of income tax rate than previously thought, pushing up employee tax and national insurance revenues sharply. - Telegraph

Lotus is to list its electric car business in the US in a $5.4bn deal backed by the world's richest man, Bernard Arnault. Lotus Technology, the EV division of the British car marquee, is to merge with a special acquisition company (SPAC) listed in New York. The SPAC is backed by L Catterton, a private equity business part-owned by the Arnault family. - Telegraph

British boardrooms have been warned to brace for a further wave of investor activism after a record number of new campaigns at European companies propelled global activity by corporate raiders to its highest level since 2018. A report released yesterday by Lazard, the boutique investment bank, showed there were 235 new initiatives started by activist shareholders around the world last year, a 36 per cent increase on 2021 and a resurgence after three years of falling interventions. - The Times

PayPal announced plans to lay off about 2,000 employees, reducing its global workforce by 7 per cent, as it became the latest technology group to cut costs ahead of an expected slowdown. The payments group said it needed to take further action to address "the challenging macroeconomic environment" amid fears of a recession. Shares in PayPal rose 2.3 per cent, or $1.85, to close at $81.49 in New York last night. - The Times

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Wednesday newspaper round-up: Thames Water, Johnson & Johnson, BoE
(Sharecast News) - Thames Water may need as much as £10bn in debt and equity investment to repair its finances, according to a representative of creditors hoping to lend the struggling utility another £3bn. London's high court heard evidence on Tuesday that suggested the UK's largest water company may need significantly more resources than the roughly £6.3bn it has previously indicated. - Guardian
Monday newspaper round-up: Zero-hours contracts, Barclays, Asos
(Sharecast News) - Hundreds of thousands of British workers are on zero-hours contracts despite being with the same employer for years, according to analysis from the TUC. The majority of zero-hours contract workers have been with their employer for more than 12 months, while one in eight have not been granted regular employment rights after more than a decade working in the same place, the organisation said. - Guardian
Friday newspaper round-up: Apple, Daily Mail, OpenAI, Homebase
(Sharecast News) - Apple slightly beat analysts' expectations in its first-quarter earnings for fiscal year 2025 on Thursday. The iPhone-maker's revenue rose by 4%, coming in at $124.30bn, barely above estimates of $124.12bn. Earnings per share were $2.40, just ahead of analysts' expectations of $2.35. Shares rose more than 8% in extended trading after CEO Tim Cook indicated in an earnings call on Thursday that Apple is on the trajectory for revenue growth next quarter. - Guardian
Thursday newspaper round-up: Car production, UK retailers, water bills, KPMG
(Sharecast News) - The architect of a ban on newspaper takeovers by foreign states has demanded that an Abu Dhabi fund be forced to sell The Telegraph by Easter. Baroness Stowell, the Conservative chairman of the Lords communications and digital committee, said the Government should impose an ultimatum on RedBird IMI. It should be backed by the threat of regulatory action, she said, to strip the fund of control of what has been dubbed "the newspaper auction from hell". - Telegraph

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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