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Important information: The value of investments can go down as well as up so you may get back less than you invest. Investors should note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon. This is a third-party news feed and may not reflect Fidelity’s views.

Monday newspaper round-up: BT Group, Business rates, Small business

(Sharecast News) - Thousands of BT and Openreach workers will go on strike again on Monday in a dispute over pay. Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), including call centre workers and engineers, will hold a 24-hour strike, after similar action on Friday. The union will mount picket lines outside company offices across the UK and is asking people to bring food, which it will deliver to local food banks. - Guardian One of Britain's biggest shopkeepers has joined the call for Tory leadership candidates to prioritise a shake-up of 'outdated' business rates. Iceland boss Richard Walker urged the next prime minister to promise a 'root and branch' reform of the tax. He said the levy is penalising bricks and mortar retailers and, without a fundamental change, the High Street will 'continue to decline'. - Daily Mail

Half of smaller suppliers are still being paid late by their clients, triggering calls for the government to increase efforts to clamp down on the practice. As two key initiatives to address the problem stall, figures from the Federation of Small Businesses show that between April and June half of the 1,300 small business owners and sole traders surveyed for its quarterly research reported being paid late, while one in five said the issue was getting worse. - The Times

BP is to invest up to £50 million in a new global battery research and development centre in Britain. Planned to open by the end of 2024, the facilities will be located at the headquarters for its Castrol business in Pangbourne, Berkshire. They will help to advance the development of leading fluid technologies and engineering for hybrid and fully battery electric vehicles, with the aim of bringing the industry closer to the tipping point for mainstream electric vehicle adoption. - The Times

Waitrose is removing best-before dates from nearly 500 fresh food products in an effort to reduce food waste. From September, the staff-owned supermarket chain will scrap the dates on packaged fruit and vegetables, including lettuce, cucumber and peppers, to encourage consumers to use their own judgment about when food has gone off. The move is expected to cut food waste by preventing people from throwing away products that are still edible, the retailer says. - Guardian

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Monday newspaper round-up: Investment bankers, energy price cap, Raspberry Pi
(Sharecast News) - London's investment bankers are expected to rake in bigger bonuses this financial year, as the City begins to recover from a two-year slump in deals caused by surging interest rates. Demand for investment banking services - such as facilitating mergers and acquisitions, advising companies and governments on fundraising, and underwriting new stock and bonds - was hit by a sharp increase in borrowing rates after the pandemic, as central banks acted to tame runaway inflation. Jobs and pay were cut as investment banks sought to reduce costs. - Guardian
Sunday share tips: Eco Animal Health, Intertek
(Sharecast News) - The Financial Mail on Sunday's Midas column tipped shares of Eco Animal Health to its readers, touting the company's animal drug pipeline.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Britvic, Prices of UK homes, BT Group
(Sharecast News) - Aviva, one of the ten largest shareholders in Britvic, thinks that Carlsberg needs to raise its takeover offer. During the preceding week, Britvic had let it be known that it had already rebuffed two acquisition offers from the Danish brewer, the highest of which had been for £3.1bn. In particular, Aviva said that Carlsberg was not taking sufficiently into account how Britvic's finances were expected to improve over the next few years. - The Financial Mail on Sunday
Friday newspaper round-up: Port Talbot, Elon Musk, Amazon
(Sharecast News) - Tata Steel has told workers it could to cease operations at its steel plant in Port Talbot months earlier than planned because of a strike. The company had been planning to shut down one of the blast furnaces by the end of June and the second one by September. But workers at the south Wales site have been told that Tata plans to cease operations at both furnaces no later than 7 July because of the strike by members of Unite, which starts the following day. - 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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