Tuesday newspaper round-up: Arcadia, Eurostar, McLaren, Lloyds

The owner of Topshop and Topman has been accused of potential breaching employment law by offering staff being made redundant less favourable terms for their notice periods, linked to the government’s furlough scheme. Sir Philip Green’s struggling Arcadia Group, which also owns Miss Selfridge, Evans, Wallis, Burton and Dorothy Perkins, is making up to 500 head office staff redundant after a slowdown in trade during the pandemic. – Guardian

Eurostar is to launch its eagerly awaited direct Amsterdam to London service on 26 October, it announced on Monday. The high-speed rail service had been due to start at the end of April but was delayed following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The cross-Channel rail operator launched the London to Amsterdam route in April 2018, but until now the return leg of the journey meant a change in Brussels to allow for passport controls and security screening, adding about an hour to the journey time. – Guardian

McLaren is bringing production home with the launch of a lightweight carbon-fibre “tubs” designed for its next generation of electric vehicles. The supercar maker said the lightweight frames will be produced at its Sheffield factory, taking the value of UK-sourced parts in McLaren cars from about 50pc to almost 60pc. – Telegraph

Lloyds Banking Group is facing fresh embarrassment over the HBOS Reading scandal as victims’ representatives warned its second attempt at compensating them risked failing them yet again. The bank has appointed an independent panel to run a “re-review” of its botched redress scheme for businesses ruined by the fraud, but a group of MPs has warned some victims may “not have a realistic expectation of compensation” second time around. – The Times

A project to develop a potential coronavirus treatment for diabetics, headed by Sir Christopher Evans, one of Britain’s leading biotechnology entrepreneurs, has raised £10 million from investors and has begun an advanced clinical trial.The phase two trial, called Arcadia, involving 150 patients in 30 hospitals in Britain, began at the weekend after approval was granted by the Medicines and Healthcare product Regulatory Agency. Pre-clinical research has suggested that the glucose kinase activator could aid diabetes sufferers who contract Covid-19. – The Times