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Wednesday newspaper round-up: Starbucks, Santander, Alphabet

(Sharecast News) - Starbucks office workers will risk losing their jobs if they fail to comply with the company's hybrid work requirement that employees are in the office three times a week. According to the Wall Street Journal an internal message sent to employees warns that an "accountability process" will start in January 2025. Consequences for non-compliance are "up to, and including, separation", according to the company message. - Guardian Santander is cutting more than 1,400 jobs across its UK business this year as part of its efforts to reduce costs. The Spanish bank's chief executive officer, Hector Grisi, confirmed the cuts as its UK division delayed publication of its latest financial results to consider the impact of an influential court ruling linked to commission on car finance. Grisi told a press conference on Tuesday that the company would cut 1,425 jobs in the UK as it automated more of its operations. It is understood that the redundancies are largely completed and will be done by the end of the year. - Guardian

Rachel Reeves's feared inheritance tax (IHT) raid has triggered a surge in investors racing to sell funds which own UK companies listed on the stock market. Investors pulled nearly £300m from funds specialising in small UK companies last month - almost a four-fold increase on the £80m withdrawn in August, according to Morningstar Direct. Mid-sized UK stocks also suffered from Budget uncertainty, with funds reporting outflows for the first time since March. - Telegraph

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, beat Wall Street's profit and revenue expectations as artificial ­intelligence technology continues to drives growth in cloud computing sales and search engine advertising. Sundar Pichai, Alphabet's chief executive, hailed the "extraordinary" momentum across the business as the company reported a 33.6 per cent increase in third-quarter net profit to $26.3 billion, outpacing Wall Street estimates of $22.9 billion. - The Times

Rolls-Royce, a frontrunner in the race to deliver Britain's first mini nuclear power plants, has sold a 20 per cent stake in its business developing the nascent technology. The Czech power company CEZ is understood to have paid millions of pounds for the stake in Rolls-Royce SMR as part of a joint push by the companies to deploy small modular reactors (SMRs). The utility has placed an order for units producing three gigawatts of electricity in the Czech Republic. - The Times

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Tuesday newspaper round-up: Brexit border checks, Evri, UK bond sales
(Sharecast News) - A lack of social mobility is costing the UK £19bn a year, a report produced by the cross-party thinktank Demos and the Co-op has found. The Social Mobility Commission, which advises the government, defines social mobility as "the link between a person's occupation or income and the occupation or income of their parents". - Guardian
Monday newspaper round-up: Sellafield, HBOS, retail investors
(Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves has been urged not to carry out mooted funding cuts for nuclear sites including Sellafield amid safety concerns, as it emerged that the number of incidents where workers narrowly avoided harm had increased at the Cumbrian site. The GMB union has written to Reeves, the chancellor, before Wednesday's budget to raise safety concerns after rumours emerged that the budget for the taxpayer-owned Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) could be reduced, which could result in cuts at nuclear sites including Sellafield and Dounreay in Scotland. - Guardian
Sunday newspaper round-up: Unsustainable, Inheritance Tax, Payslips
(Sharecast News) - The government's debt pile is set to soar to "unsustainable" levels, the Chancellor's new fiscal rules not withstanding, official data reveal. During the previous week, Rachel Reeves binned the old methodology used to measure public debt, which will allow her to foist enormous additional liabilities on future generations of Britons. The new rules will let her borrow £50bn yet claim that she can balance the books. - The Financial Mail on Sunday

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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