The Times
** The French defence company Thales and its
Norwegian subcontractor Kongsberg are in the crosshairs
as the government seeks compensation for engineering problems
that have taken the 3.2 billion pounds ($3.86 billion) aircraft
carrier Prince of Wales out of commission.
** New official figures show that of the 4.1 billion pounds
the government has paid to lenders for defaulted credit under
the bounce back loan scheme, 640 million pounds worth of
facilities were marked as "suspected fraud".
The Guardian
** Rishi Sunak has announced a mini-reshuffle to stamp his
authority on the fractured Conservative party, alongside a
sweeping Whitehall restructure that created four new government
departments.
** Lidl has accused its bigger rival Tesco of
"deception" during the latest round of a long-running legal
battle between the two supermarket chains over the use of a
yellow circle logo.
The Telegraph
** The number of trains running on HS2 will be almost halved
and services will travel more slowly in a proposed shake-up of
the 72 billion pounds line as ministers scramble to save money.
** The chief executive of BP has confirmed plans to
refocus the business on fossil fuels but denied the move was
motivated by the comparatively better performance of US oil
giants.
Sky News
** The Bank of London set up to compete with Britain's
biggest high street lenders is holding firm on its $1 billion
plus valuation after receiving a further injection of $40
million.
** Britain's biggest holiday parks operator, Parkdean
Resorts, is in talks about a 600 million pounds debt refinancing
months after shelving a sale in the face of a deteriorating
economic outlook.
($1 = 0.8293 pounds)
(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)
