Sunday newspaper round-up: AstraZeneca, Virgin Atlantic, Boohoo

AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot was last night at the centre of an extraordinary row among City investors over his multi-million-pound bonus. The French chief executive has been lauded for rolling out Astra's life-saving Covid vaccine at no profit, as well as fighting off predatory buyers and boosting the company's share price since he took charge in 2012. But Astra's major shareholders are understood to have been locked in heated talks for days after the drugs giant proposed to boost his bonus and performance-related share award by £2.3million to £12million. - Financial Mail on Sunday

The perilous state of Virgin Atlantic's finances have been laid bare in new documents as it battles to open its key US routes this summer. The papers reveal the airline's survival would be at risk if travel restrictions are lifted more slowly than expected or if the UK faces another lockdown this year. Directors called this a 'severe but plausible' worst case scenario and said it could force the airline to raise more cash from shareholders or go through 'significant restructuring'. - Financial Mail on Sunday

Internet fashion giant Boohoo has lined up 200 cosmetics brands for a major relaunch of Debenhams online this autumn. The push forms part of an ambitious strategy to re-establish Debenhams, which at its peak sold £550million of beauty, fashion and homewares a year. Boohoo plans to match that figure 'over time' with intensive work to improve the Debenhams website's technology. - Financial Mail on Sunday

American fast food chain Wendy’s is planning to create 12,000 jobs as it returns to Britain for the first time in more than two decades. Wendy’s, which claims to have “dethroned the king” by overtaking Burger King sales in the US, is eyeing up to 400 UK stores in the coming years. In a blow to Deliveroo, it has overlooked the delivery firm as its takeaway partner in favour of Uber Eats. - Sunday Telegraph

Heathrow has resumed buying houses close to its proposed third runway as it comes under pressure from its biggest investor to press on with the controversial expansion. The airport reopened a property hardship scheme this month through which it buys homes from owners who are otherwise unable to sell them due to the prospect of a third runway. Heathrow’s expansion plans were resurrected in December when the Supreme Court overturned an earlier ruling to outlaw the £14bn scheme. - Sunday Telegraph

BT is preparing to accelerate its investment which will bring superfast full-fibre broadband to millions more homes as concerns ease over the company’s pensions black hole. The telecoms operator is about to publish more ambitious targets for its broadband rollout which will include enhanced coverage in the most remote parts of the country. - Sunday Telegraph

Nicola Sturgeon has told Boris Johnson that a second independence referendum is “a matter of when, not if” after the Scottish National party secured a historic fourth term at Holyrood on Saturday with a pro-independence majority of MSPs returned despite tactical voting by pro-union supporters. Scotland’s first minister made the assertion in a telephone call with the prime minister on Sunday evening, despite senior Conservative figures questioning her mandate. - Guardian

The hackers who caused the vast Colonial Pipeline to shut down on Friday reportedly began their cyberattack against the top US fuel pipeline operator a day earlier and stole a large amount of data. The attackers are part of a cybercrime group called DarkSide and took nearly 100 gigabytes of data out of Colonial’s network in just two hours on Thursday, the Bloomberg news website reported late Saturday, citing two people involved in the company’s investigation. - Guardian