Sunday newspaper round-up: Furlough scheme, National lockdown, Food banks

(Sharecast News) - The chancellor dramatically extended his furlough scheme last night, just hours before it was due to end, bowing to demands from business leaders for more financial support throughout the new four-week lockdown in England. Rishi Sunak said the decision was necessary because of the return of "stay at home" restrictions to contain Covid-19. News of the new lockdown, first reported by The Times, had sparked fury from bosses. "We will do whatever it takes as the situation evolves," Sunak said. - Sunday Times

Boris Johnson faces a rebellion from his backbenches over the new national lockdown restrictions for England amid warnings that the measures would be "disastrous" for the economy. This comes after Cabinet Minister Michael Gove admitted the four-week-long national lockdown could be extended beyond December 2. The Commons will debate the Government's proposals to control the spread of coronavirus this week, with a vote expected on Wednesday, but some Conservative MPs have suggested they could vote against them. - Sunday Telegraph

Food aid charities have identified the emergence of the UK's "newly hungry" - a growing cohort of people previously in good jobs and enjoying comfortable incomes who have been forced to use food banks and claim welfare benefits for the first time during the pandemic. The Feeding Britain network said its members were providing food support to a new influx of middle-income families. Typically with mortgages, cars, and often self-employed or business owners, they had been plunged into crisis by Covid-related job losses and gaps in the social security system. - Guardian

Marks & Spencer is set to reveal the first signs of a boost from its Ocado tie-up after a major collapse in clothing sales. This week, M&S is expected to post losses of £59million for the six months to late September, with same-store clothing revenues plunging 41 per cent after shops were forced to shut during the lockdown. However, the chain's joint venture with online grocery specialist Ocado is likely to prove a bright spot. Analysts forecast that it is doing better than originally thought. - Mail on Sunday

Britain's bid to build enough offshore windfarms to power every home in the country by 2030 risks being derailed by outdated regulation which is slowing investment in the electricity grid, according to one of the industry's biggest players. Germany's RWE has warned that work to connect the growing number of windfarms off the UK coast to the onshore electricity grid will not keep pace with the government's goals unless decades-old regulation allows for faster investments. - Guardian

"A recipe box delivery start-up backed by "body coach" Joe Wicks has raised £25m from investors, propelling it to "unicorn" status. [...] The cash injection brings the total raised by Gousto to £155m and values it at more than $1bn - making it a unicorn. Gousto said sales in the first half of this year had surpassed the £83m reported for the whole of 2019. - Sunday Times

Transport for London (TfL) has struck an eleventh-hour bailout deal with the Government worth about £1.8bn. The agreement, reached before a final deadline on Saturday evening, gives London's transport regulator enough funding for it to continue to operate until the end of March 2021. Changes to the Congestion Charge which were introduced in June as part of a previous bailout, including a 30pc increase in the charge as well as longer operating hours, will remain in place under the new deal. - Sunday Telegraph

An aggressive US hedge fund could seek to join a takeover of the AA, the beleaguered car breakdown service. Davidson Kempner, which has a 15% stake in the AA, is understood to have hired the investment bank Moelis to advise on options as talks drag on between the debt-laden company and two private equity suitors, Warburg Pincus and TowerBrook. - Sunday Times

The chief executive of easyJet is to have his salary frozen next year as the budget airline grapples with Covid travel restrictions. Johan Lundgren will see his annual salary of £740,000 remain static. The company's pay committee decided in July that the salaries of executives would not increase in 2021. The decision is due to be published next month. Lundgren is expected to see his total pay package fall to 55 per cent of what he could have earned for the next two years after a plunge in the share price. - Mail on Sunday

Sainsbury's is tipped to restart dividend payments this week despite a row over it receiving a huge tax break and a second national lockdown. City analysts said they expect the supermarket to give the green light to dividends again - with analysts at Barclays pencilling in a £220 million payout to shareholders. That assumes the chain pays both a dividend for the past six months and a 'catch-up' for a payout it postponed earlier this year. - Mail on Sunday