Thames Water profits surge on higher bills; Prada buys Versace for $1.4bn – business live

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.Thames Water has reported a leap in half-year pre-tax profit to £386m, even as it warned that it faced huge uncertainties over funding that could see it collapse rapidly into government control.Britain’s biggest water company on Wednesday said it had swung into profit for the six months to September, after losing £230m in the same period in 2024.Yet despite the reported profits, the company warned there was “material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt” on its status as a going concern. A collapse into government control under a special administration regime “could occur in the very near term” if it is unable to agree the terms of a formal takeover by its controlling lenders

Airbus cuts plane delivery target amid A320 fuselage problem

Airbus has cut its plane delivery target for this year after it identified a problem with the fuselage panels on its bestselling A320 family of aircraft that has forced it to inspect hundreds of jets.The world’s largest plane manufacturer said it would now deliver “around 790” commercial aircraft this year, a drop of 30 from its previous target of 820 planes.Airlines around the world cancelled and delayed flights over the weekend after the French firm ordered immediate fixes to software updates on 6,000 of its A320s, more than half of its global fleet.While most of the glitches were fixed by Monday, the company then identified separate quality problems on metal panels at the front of some planes.Reuters reported that a presentation to airlines showed that the total number of planes needing inspections was 628, including 168 already in service, 245 in assembly lines and 215 in an earlier stage of production known as major component assembly

Anti-immigrant material among AI-generated content getting billions of views on TikTok

Hundreds of accounts on TikTok are garnering billions of views by pumping out AI-generated content, including anti-immigrant and sexualised material, according to a report.Researchers said they had uncovered 354 AI-focused accounts pushing 43,000 posts made with generative AI tools and accumulating 4.5bn views over a month-long period.According to AI Forensics, a Paris-based non-profit, some of these accounts attempt to game TikTok’s algorithm – which decides what content users see – by posting large amounts of content in the hope that it goes viral.One posted up to 70 times a day or at the same time of day, an indication of an automated account, and most of the accounts were launched at the beginning of the year

Tesla privately warned UK that weakening EV rules would hit sales

Tesla privately warned the UK government that weakening electric vehicle rules would hit battery car sales and risk the country missing its carbon dioxide targets, according to newly revealed documents.The US electric carmaker, run by Elon Musk, also called for “support for the used-car market”, according to submissions to a government consultation earlier this year obtained by the Fast Charge, a newsletter covering electric cars.The Labour government in April worried some electric carmakers by weakening rules, known as the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate. The mandate forces increased sales of EVs each year, but new loopholes allowed carmakers to sell more petrol and diesel cars.New taxes on electric cars in last week’s budget could further undermine demand, critics have said

The Spin | Pink-ball wizard: batters on facing ‘devastating weapon’ Mitchell Starc

That tall, fast and slim kid, sure bowls a mean pink ball.Leading into Thursday’s crucial second Test match, a day-night affair at Brisbane’s Gabba, much has been made of Mitchell Starc’s pink-ball wizardry. With 81 wickets at an average of 17.08, the lissom-limbed southpaw seamer has more wickets than any other with the pink’un in hand. Just what English supporters want to read as their side pitches up at a ground where they haven’t won a Test match in 39 years

World Athletics scraps landing zone idea to avoid ‘war’ with long jump athletes

World Athletics has scrapped controversial plans to introduce a take-off zone for the long jump rather than the traditional board because of widespread hostility from athletes, the Guardian can reveal.Jon Ridgeon, World Athletics’ chief executive, said that while the proposals had trialled well, “ultimately you do not want to go to war with your most important group of people”.The idea of introducing a wide take-off zone was to reduce the number of foul jumps because athletes would no longer be required to try to hit a narrow board before jumping into the sand pit.However, the Olympic long jump champion Miltiadis Tentoglou described the proposal as “dog shit” because it took much of the skill out of the event, while Carl Lewis called it an “April Fool’s joke”.“The reality is the athletes do not want to embrace it,” Ridgeon admitted