Monday newspaper round-up: Profit warnings, British steelmakers, Microsoft

(Sharecast News) - The number of profit warnings from UK-listed companies has risen to the highest level in two years, as the war in the Middle East triggers a surge in costs for businesses before the budget. With less than a fortnight before John Healey's tax and spending statement to the Commons, the consultants EY-Parthenon said companies quoted on the London stock market had issued 65 warnings in the three months to the end of September. - Guardian

British steelmakers have been pushed further behind European rivals on electricity costs after the US-Israeli war on Iran caused a surge in global gas prices. The premium paid by the British industry over its French counterpart has risen to almost £30 a megawatt hour (MWh), its highest level in three years, according to analysis by the lobby group UK Steel. Energy prices have long been one of the main factors businesses cite when asked what is holding back British industry. For Andy Burnham they represent perhaps the biggest obstacle to his goal of "reindustrialising" the UK. - Guardian

Istanbul airport has increased its jet fuel reserves to seven times those of Heathrow amid escalating concern over the impact of the Iran war on global supplies. The airport now has 350 million litres of kerosene at its on-site fuel farm, far more than the 50 million litres held at Heathrow, which Istanbul overtook to become Europe's busiest hub in the summer. - Telegraph

France is bracing for a fresh sell-off in government debt after a wave of violent protests erupted across the country. Bond yields in France are expected to rise on Monday morning in response to the clashes, as economists fear the country increasingly appears "ungovernable". Higher borrowing costs will pile more strain on the country's troubled public finances, while also stoking fears that the violence will lead to a more populist, free-spending candidate coming to power. - Telegraph

Microsoft has pulled out of a data centre agreement in Essex with Nscale in a setback to Britain's artificial intelligence ambitions and the company's $35bn listing plans. The deal with the giant American tech company was announced in September last year as part of a flurry of transactions to coincide with President Trump's state visit that promised to deepen the technology partnership between Britain and the United States. - The Times

Jobe Bellingham is among backers who have put $10m into a Manchester-based technology company that tracks the movement of athletes and offers virtual reality training. Bellingham, 21, the younger brother of the England star Jude, has invested in Rezzil alongside the golf putting coach Phil Kenyon and existing partners the Premier League and Simba Investments, the Dubai-based venture capital firm. - The Times