Here are the top business stories making the headlines in the morning newspapers.

Banchory hotel in administration

Banchory’s Douglas Arms Hotel is in administration, with rising energy costs blamed as “the final straw”.

The Press & Journal says the hotel is now up for sale with property firm Graham & Sibbald looking for offers of around £395,000.

In January, the property was put on the market for £550,000.

It closed its doors the same month with four members of staff losing their jobs.

Administrator Michael Reid, of Meston and Co, was appointed after the business entered voluntary liquidation.#‘

The Douglas Arms Hotel, on the High Street, has eight bedrooms, a lounge bar/bistro and a cafe.

Bulb legal challenge extinguished

Energy firms British Gas, Eon and ScottishPower have lost a legal challenge over the sale of collapsed supplier Bulb to rival Octopus Energy.

Bulb, which had about 1.6million customers, was the largest of more than 30 energy firms that went under in 2021 after a sharp rise in wholesale gas prices.

The BBC says the failed company was bailed out by taxpayers. Rival firms argued the sale was unfair, but the High Court dismissed the case.

Contaminated meat risk

Consumers may in the past have been at risk from contaminated meat, the UK's food watchdog has admitted.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is investigating allegations a rogue meat supplier falsely labelled foreign pork as British, and mixed rotting pork with fresh products for processing.

Farmers Weekly, which first reported the story, also claimed e-coli and listeria paperwork was falsified.

The FSA said there were no "current concerns" about meat on the market.

But its chief executive Emily Miles told the BBC it was "possible" people had been at risk from contaminated meat in the past.

The FSA started its initial investigation about mislabelling of products in August 2021 and seized more than six million documents, which it said are now being gone through.

"The food-safety allegations have been much more recent and we're following those up. We went to the premises last week and made three arrests and seized millions more documents," Ms Miles said.

Amazon strikes

Amazon workers in Coventry - the first in the UK to strike - are to take a further six days of industrial action in a continuing dispute over pay.

Strikes by GMB union members will be from April 16 to 18 and April 21 to 23.

It follows action earlier this year.

The GMB has called for a pay rise from £10.50 to £15 an hour, although the union is not recognised by the US firm.

Amazon said its minimum pay had risen by more than 37% since 2018, as well as other benefits.

The firm has previously said only a "tiny proportion" of its workforce in Coventry is involved in the dispute.

The GMB told the BBC it is close to signing up enough workers so that Amazon would have to recognise a union for the first time.

It also said it was asking members at five other Midlands sites to vote on whether they would be willing to take part in industrial action.

Another major lawsuit against Google

A lawsuit has been filed against Google to seek £3.4billion in compensation for publishers for lost revenue.

The claim, by ex-Guardian technology editor Charles Arthur, alleges Google unlawfully used a dominant position in online adverts in a way that reduced what publishers could make from them.

Google said it would fight the "speculative and opportunistic" action vigorously.

It is the second such lawsuit, after a similar case was launched in November.

That was brought by former Ofcom director Claudio Pollack, who is looking for up to £13.6billion in damages from the tech giant.

The cases concern advertising technology - adtech - that decides in a fraction of a second which online adverts consumers will see, how much they will cost and how much publishers will earn.

Online display advertising is the main source of income for many websites.

The BBC says the UK competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, is also investigating Google's dominance in advertising technology.

Corncern about Chinese loans to Africa

The president of the World Bank has told the BBC that he is concerned about some of the loans China has been making to developing economies in Africa.

David Malpass says the terms and conditions need to be "more transparent".

It comes amid worries that countries including Ghana and Zambia are struggling to repay their debts to Beijing.

China says that any such lending is done within international rules.

The BBC says developing countries often borrow money from other nations or multilateral bodies to finance sectors that will grow their economies such as infrastructure, education and agriculture.

However, steep increases in interest rates in the US and other major economies over the last year are making loan repayments more expensive because lots of that borrowing is done in foreign currencies such as US dollars or euros.

Cineworld seeking to raise £1.8billion

Cineworld plans to raise £1.8billion in new funding as the struggling cinema giant aims to emerge from bankruptcy.

The company filed for US bankruptcy protection last year.

It has been trying to restructure its £4billion of debt after being hit hard by lockdowns and a lack of big movie releases due to the pandemic.

Cineworld, which also owns the Picturehouse chain in the UK, has been struggling to find a buyer.

The proceeds of the capital raising will be used to fund the turn around of the business including costs related to the restructuring its debts, Cineworld said in a filing with the US bankruptcy court in the Southern District of Texas.

It is the world's second-largest cinema chain by the number of screens, with more than 9,000 screens in almost 750 locations.

The BBC
says Cineworld's operations span 10 countries - including the UK, the US, Poland and Israel - with approximately 30,000 employees worldwide.

Nosedive for Virgin Orbit

Virgin Orbit is on the brink of collapse after the troubled rocket launch company announced it was laying off 85% of its staff and ceasing operations.

Sir Richard Branson has been forced to inject £9million into the satellite-launch company after the business failed to raise funding from other sources.

The cash injection will fund the redundancies of 675 staff, while remaining employees will work on winding down the business.

The Telegraph says the loan from Sir Richard grants the billionaire rights over the company’s Boeing 747 aircraft and other assets if it goes bankrupt.

Food prices uncertainty

The chairman of Tesco says he cannot forecast when rises in food prices will peak.

But John Allan told the BBC the supermarket chain was "doing our bit" to help customers cope with the impact of high inflation.

Shortages of fresh produce helped push food inflation to 18.2% in the year to February, the highest since 1978.

Credit Suisse investigation

Swiss prosecutors have opened an investigation into the sudden takeover of the country's second-largest bank, Credit Suisse, by its rival UBS.

The BBC
says the deal was rushed through last month, when fears rose about Credit Suisse's financial position.

Switzerland's Federal Prosecutor said on Sunday that it would investigate if any possible "criminal offences" had been committed.

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