Thursday newspaper round-up: Tesco, Post Office, Amazon, Stellantis
Tesco has struck a deal to buy enough solar power to run 144 of its large supermarkets, buying almost two-thirds of the entire electricity output from the Cleve Hill solar park in Kent. The £450m solar park is being built on farmland near Faversham by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, a London-based firm that invests in renewable and low-carbon energy in the US, UK and Australia. – Guardian
Post Office executives changed data on the Horizon IT systems used by post office operators without their knowledge as recently as last year, the public inquiry into the scandal has heard. The inquiry was shown a letter from Calum Greenhow, the chief executive of the National Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSP) and a post office operator for 22 years, to the Post Office raising the issue in May last year. – Guardian
Amazon has become the latest tech giant to embrace mini-nuclear reactors as the online retailer seeks to power a growing fleet of electric trucks and data centres. The American group, founded by Jeff Bezos, said on Wednesday it had led a $500m (£380m) funding round in small modular reactor (SMR) technology being developed by Maryland-based X-energy. It is also backing two SMR projects in the states of Virginia and Washington. – Telegraph
The crisis at Stellantis, the parent group of Vauxhall, has been laid bare as the multinational automotive group revealed that deliveries have crashed 20 per cent compared with a year ago. Shipments around the world by Stellantis brands in the three months to the end of September fell 279,000 to 1.14 million compared with the same period in 2023. The collapse in business was most acutely seen in North America where shipments dived 36 per cent, down 171,000 vehicles to 299,000, as it admitted problems managing the energy transition. – The Times
The UK’s decision to leave the European Union was a “disaster” that has cost the Square Mile almost 40,000 jobs, according to the lord mayor of the City of London. The estimate by Michael Mainelli, who represents the Square Mile in his role as the 695th lord mayor, will fuel the debate over the true extent to which Britain’s financial services sector has been harmed by Brexit. – The Times