Sunday newspaper round-up: Breast cancer, Food shortages, IAG

(Sharecast News) - The trial of a new drug to treat an aggressive form of breast cancer has "shattered expectations" raising hopes of a "cure", according to its maker, AstraZeneca. The British pharmaceuticals company said three quarters of women in the trial of its new drug, Enhertu, had shown no progression in their disease after 12 months compared with just a third treated with a different medicine. - Sunday Times
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng will tomorrow hold an emergency summit with energy bosses to thrash out a plan to fix the fuel crisis, which has sparked fears of major food shortages. There is growing alarm that the food and drink industry could be badly hit by the closure of two fertiliser plants - in Teesside and Cheshire - due to gas price rises. - Financial Mail on Sunday

The chief executive of British Airways owner IAG has denied widespread City speculation that he is planning to raise billions of euros from shareholders to get the company through the extended Covid crisis. Having seen easyJet tap investors for £1.2 billion in a rights issue earlier this month, focus had turned to IAG with expectations that it would have to follow suit to shore up its finances. - Sunday Times

Prudential is to raise £2 billion on the Hong Kong stock exchange in a move that cements the FTSE 100 insurance giant's focus away from its British base. The 173-year-old insurer intends to use the bulk of the proceeds to pay down debt and give it "financial flexibility in the light of the breadth of opportunities to invest for growth in Asia and Africa". Ultimately it hopes to win a place in the Hang Seng index of Hong Kong's largest companies. - Sunday Times

A cabinet minister has refused to rule out removing the energy price cap but stressed there was "no immediate concern" about energy supply. Alok Sharma, the cabinet minister for the Cop26 summit, said people should be "confident" about energy supplies over the coming months despite surging wholesale gas prices and warnings about resulting product shortages. - Sunday Times

The majority of the UK's small energy suppliers could be left to collapse this winter, the Guardian understands, as the government's crisis talks focus on protecting households rather than bailing out struggling companies. The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, was due to meet the industry regulator on Sunday to thrash out possible options to intervene in the energy market after a recent run of supplier collapses owing to a record rise in global gas and electricity prices. - Guardian

Adzuna, the job search engine used by the Government for live data on the labour market, is planning a stock market listing that will value the company at up to £100m. Launched a decade ago in Clapham, south London, by Andrew Hunter and Doug Monro, the site brings together online job adverts in a searchable form. - Sunday Telegraph

COP26 president Alok Sharma was unable to confirm China would even be sending a delegation to the gathering in November - although he insisted he was "very, very hopeful" they would. The agreement of China, as the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is seen as crucial if the talks are to succeed in slowing global warming. - The Scotsman

The grocer Morrisons is to begin selling to pubs, restaurants and hotels in a bid to expand its wholesale business rapidly. The FTSE 250 supermarket chain, which is also the UK's second biggest fresh-food producer, is understood to have signed a deal with Starstock, an online portal that enables businesses to order directly from suppliers. The idea is that restaurateurs, hoteliers and pub groups will be able to stock their kitchens with products sourced from Morrisons. - Sunday Times

The majority of the UK's small energy suppliers could be left to collapse this winter, the Guardian understands, as the government's crisis talks focus on protecting households rather than bailing out struggling companies. The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, was due to meet the industry regulator on Sunday to thrash out possible options to intervene in the energy market after a recent run of supplier collapses owing to a record rise in global gas and electricity prices. - Guardian

Rolls-Royce is developing a nuclear reactor that it hopes will be capable of powering mining operations on the Moon and even Mars, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Dave Gordon, head of the company's defence division, said it is studying how a micro-nuclear reactor could be used to propel rockets while in space at huge speeds. He revealed that Rolls-Royce is investigating whether that technology could then be redeployed to provide energy for drilling, processing and storage for socalled 'Moon mining'. - Financial Mail on Sunday