Friday newspaper round-up: Thames Water, British Steel, OITS

(Sharecast News) - Andy Burnham is under further pressure to take control of ailing Thames Water from a cross-party group of MPs who are calling for ministers to break off talks with the US hedge funds who are effectively running the company. Adding their voices to demands that the prime minister takes public control of the company, which has debts of £20bn and is being controlled by a group of 100 hedge funds and distressed-debt investors, the MPs said in a report that ministers should consider emergency legislation to take control of its financial affairs to stabilise the company. - Guardian

Labour has been urged to lay out a credible plan for the future of British Steel, as the government spending watchdog warned of the "startling" costs of keeping the struggling manufacturer in business with no end in sight. British Steel was taken into public ownership in July to protect "the future of steel production", 15 months after the government stepped in to prevent the closure of its steelworks in Scunthorpe and the loss of 4,000 jobs. - Guardian

Supplies of Johnnie Walker and Bell's whisky face disruption as more than 100 workers at Diageo's biggest Scottish distillery prepare to go on strike. Workers at Cameronbridge, Europe's largest grain distillery, will walk out from Sept 28 for three weeks in a dispute over plans to cut 10 jobs at the site. The action threatens to bring production to a halt at the factory, which makes the grain spirit used in blends for some of Diageo's best-known whiskies, including Johnnie Walker, Bell's and Haig. - Telegraph

Thousands of pensioners have been hit with a further block on withdrawing their cash from Octopus's inheritance tax scheme. The fund, which has 18,000 customers and is known as the Octopus Inheritance Tax Service (OITS), has been frozen to redemptions since early July, meaning savers have been banned from getting their money back. Octopus was supposed to have reopened the fund either this week or next. However, it said on Thursday that the closure would "need to remain in place for a short additional period". - Telegraph

The "battle of the pills" has reached a crucial moment. In London on Monday Novo Nordisk will host a capital markets day in what is seen as a "critical opportunity" for the Danish pharmaceuticals group behind the Wegovy weight-loss drug. Executives, led by Mike Doustdar, will seek to convince investors that Novo has a strategy to stay ahead of Eli Lilly, a US competitor, and to navigate a looming "patent cliff" in order to "return to sustainable growth". - The Times