Thursday newspaper round-up: Covid support package, wealth divide, Tesla, Asda

(Sharecast News) - Rishi Sunak is expected to announce his fourth package of support for business in as many months amid mounting pressure on the government to help hard-hit companies in lockdown-affected regions. Trades unions and the UK's five big employers' organisations have been summoned to the Treasury on Thursday morning to hear details of the chancellor's plans before he makes a statement to MPs. - Guardian
Official figures have laid bare the huge financial divide in the UK caused by the coronavirus crisis, with one in three households experiencing income cuts, and young adults and black, Asian and minority ethnic people worst hit. In a grim overview of the nation's personal finances, the Financial Conduct Authority said 12 million adults were struggling to pay their bills, up by 2 million since coronavirus struck in February. - Guardian

The Welsh government is poised to nationalise its railways after bailout talks with the current operator were unable to agree a privately-led deal and Covid continued to hammer public transport. Ministers are expected to formally announce the transfer of operations to state-owned Transport for Wales on Thursday morning, insiders said. - Telegraph

Tesla said last night that it intended to meet an ambitious target to deliver half a million cars this year as it announced its fifth consecutive quarterly profit. However, the electric carmaker warned that achieving its delivery goal had become "more difficult" after its main factory in California was shut down temporarily in the early weeks of the pandemic. - The Times

The new owners of Asda are looking for a chairman and independent directors for their petrol station empire to soothe corporate governance concerns as they gear up for a £10 billion stock market listing next year. EG Group, which is owned by the billionaire Issa brothers and TDR Capital, the private equity firm, who teamed up for a £6.8 billion takeover of Asda last month, told investors last week that there had been a delay in expanding their board as they were weighing the impact of "large-scale acquisitions and future listing options". - The Times