Monday newspaper round-up: Insurers, energy suppliers, EU workers

Staying loyal to an insurer can cost families up to £1,000 a year. Firms overcharge by up to three times to fund their cut-price deals for new customers. Long-standing customers are offered good rates only if they challenge renewal quotes or threaten to leave. - Mail

Big energy suppliers’ profit margins hit a record high last year as they failed to pass on wholesale cost savings to their customers, according to figures that are likely to fuel support for a price cap. The combined profits of British Gas, EDF Energy, Eon, Npower and Scottish Power, five of the Big Six suppliers, rose by 7.8 per cent to almost £1.1 billion in 2016, analysis of company accounts by Lazarus Research shows. - The Times

Directory enquiries companies have been accused of ripping off its elderly customers by charging almost £9 for a single phonecall. Calls to the popular 118 1118 line, known for their eccentric adverts, now cost a minimum of £8.98, an increase of more than 2,000 per cent in 15 years and more than a premium-rate sex line. - Mail

European workers are crucial to the success of UK businesses and the wider economy, and the government must not shut off access to those staff, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has warned. Britain should have an immigration system “based on need” rather than an arbitrary 100,000 target, said Carolyn Fairbairn, the business group’s director general. - Telegraph

Rents in London have fallen for the first time since 2009, adding to signs that the London housing market is stalling after years of rising growth in house prices. According to data collected by HomeLet, rents in London were 1.2 per cent lower in April than in the same month last year, marking the first annual fall in eight years to an average price of £1,519. - The Times

Liberty Global announced an 18 per cent fall in profits from its European business last night as high costs rolling out new services in Britain failed to make up for growth in customer subscriptions. The cable company controlled by John Malone, the billionaire, which acquired Virgin Media in 2013, said that it had attracted 158,000 new users in the UK during the three months that ended on March 31, a 70 per cent increase on the same period a year ago. - Times

Facebook has announced moves to help suppress fake news during the UK general election, starting with the deletion of tens of thousands of bogus profiles. The US social media company, which has more than 31 million accounts registered in Britain, is also launching a fact-checking initiative and said it will stop promoting posts that show signs of being implausible. - Guardian

One of France’s most prestigious champagne brands is hoping to capitalise on Britain’s wine boom after planting its first vines on English soil last week. Taittinger has chosen a vineyard near the Kent village of Chilham as the site for its venture into English sparkling wine, with the first bottle due to be drunk in 2023. - Guardian

Billionaire Warren Buffett revealed he is already readying his sprawling conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway for the tax cuts promised by new US president Donald Trump and disclosed he was prepared to stump up $15bn for Kraft Heinz’s aborted $143bn Unilever bid. The famed American investor known as the Sage of Omaha told shareholders at Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting that the company was examining ways it can take advantage of Mr Trump’s pledge to slash corporation tax to 15pc. - Telegraph

The cells that makes hairs and turns it grey was accidentally discovered by US scientists as they explored how certain cancer tumours form. Associate Professor of Dermatology Dr Lu Le at UT Southwestern Medical Centre said: "Although this project was started in an effort to understand how certain kinds of tumours form, we ended up learning why hair turns grey and discovering the identity of the cell that directly gives rise to hair. - Telegraph