Monday newspaper round-up: Manufacturers, Clarks, City Workers, Motorway

(Sharecast News) - Britain's manufacturers are facing a "perfect storm" crisis of rapidly rising costs and towering debts that many fear could push them over the brink, according to a new survey. The leading industry trade body on Monday urged the government to introduce payment holidays on loans, warning that thousands of firms faced a "tipping point" that could make their business models unviable. - Guardian It began with a sheepskin slipper in 1825, but Clarks is moving out of its comfort zone in a battle for survival under new Chinese leadership. The British footwear institution, founded by Quaker brothers Cyrus and James Clark, shifted from comfort to fashion after the desert boot inspired by James' great grandson Nathan Clark's time in Burma in the 1940s became the footwear of choice for the Beatles, Oasis and generations of reggae artists. - Guardian

The eurozone's most powerful banking groups have demanded long-term access to London's multi-trillion dollar derivatives trading market in a fresh blow for Brussels' plans to seize business from the City. In a joint letter, finance trade bodies said that the bloc faces a "cliff edge" unless it extends exemptions that allow trades by European Union institutions to take place in the UK and other major markets. - Telegraph

Hambro Perks has given staff almost four weeks of extra holiday to tackle pandemic burnout as finance firms race to pull in talent with fresh benefits. Workers at the boutique investment firm, co-founded by the late finance heir Rupert Hambro and Dominic Perks, a former McKinsey consultant, will get two extra weeks leave for Christmas to tackle burnout after being handed a fortnight in August for the same reason. - Telegraph

Motorway, an online used-car marketplace, has joined the ranks of the UK's "unicorn" businesses after securing a $190 million funding round that values it at more than $1 billion. It brings the number of active British unicorns - a private company valued at $1 billion or more - to 37. - The Times

Centrica has ditched its no-frills supply brand British Gas Evolve little more than a year after launching it. Britain's biggest energy supplier started signing customers to the "low-cost, digital-first" brand in October 2020 in response to fierce competition from cut-price rivals who have poached millions of customers from its core British Gas business over the past decade. - The Times