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

Oil to bounce back despite recession

The price of oil is forecast to break free of a recent slump and climb higher during the second half of this year as tight supply and the full benefit of China loosening Covid restrictions outweigh the impact of global recessions.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, has started the year back around $80 a barrel, with concerns around a slowing world economy and a rise in Covid-19 infections in China weighing on markets.

Prices rose to $139 a barrel in March last year after Russia invaded Ukraine, which led to fears of a severe energy shock.

Analysts at UBS and Bank of America think that the oil price will peak at $110 a barrel this year, around the level at which it traded last summer, as supply constraints persist.

Foreign investors turning away from unstable Britain

Three prime ministers, four chancellors and three business secretaries in a year have cost Britain its appeal to foreign investors, say manufacturing bosses.

Members of Make UK, the manufacturing trade body, have in previous surveys blamed the impact of Brexit on trade costs and customs barriers. However, it is the government’s management of the economy since Britain left the European Union that is now angering industrial leaders.

“There is evidence that the political instability of the last 12 months has damaged the competitiveness of the UK as a manufacturing location,” said Make UK of its survey published in today's Times newspaper.

BP’s plan to cash in on the rise of solar power

BP plans to build its first solar farm with battery storage on a site in Tiln Farm, Retford, as it prepares to make the technology the norm globally.

Nick Boyle, the head of energy giant BP’s solar joint venture, says he believes battery storage technology will be widely included as part of solar farms, helping to tackle the problem of intermittent energy.

“If solar accounts for maybe only two to 4pc of the electricity generation, there's not a lot of need for it, because the grid will cope. But as you get to 10 to 20pc and beyond, which are the projections we’re looking at, then you need to be able to control it,” Boyle told The Telegraph.

Business booms for Scottish ski resorts

Scotland's ski resorts are enjoying a strong start to the season as some resorts elsewhere in Europe struggle for snow.

Relative warmth has been far from ideal for some resorts in countries such as France and Switzerland.

However, at venues such as the Lecht Ski Centre business is booming.

The blue skies of January 2 saw it so busy they had to stop selling tickets for only the second time in 45 years.

Pieter du Pon, chairman of the Lecht Ski Company, told the BBC the season was off to a "very good start".

"Christmas is a peak period, there are a lot of kids on holiday.

"We specialise in families and small children learning to ski up here.

"Just listening, there are a lot of English voices around.

"I don't want to gloat too much, but yes it's nice that we've got snow."

Call for cap on Scottish bus fares

The Scottish Government is being urged to introduce a cap on bus fares.

More than 130 bus operators in England have signed up to limit fares to £2 for the first three months of the year.

Scottish Labour wants Scotland to follow suit to stop people seeking alternative transport.

The Scottish Government said its concessionary bus travel schemes were the most generous in the UK, with free travel for under-22s, over-60s and people with disabilities.

But Transport Scotland statistics show fares in Scotland have increased by 6% in real terms over the last five years, compared with a UK rise of 3%.

The figures also show that passenger journeys in Scotland fell by 69%, and in Britain by 66% over the past five years.

Scottish Labour's transport spokesman Neil Bibby told the BBC that unreliable services and unaffordable fares were forcing people away from buses.

Preventing further teachers' strikes

The Scottish Government said there is "potential scope for compromise" following talks with teaching unions in a bid to prevent further strikes.

The Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers will meet today to discuss pay deal options.

The BBC says unions rejected a 5% increase, arguing for 10%. The offer includes rises of up to 6.85% for the lowest paid staff.

'Dynamic pricing' hits electric-vehicle drivers

Electric vehicle drivers have been hit with peak-time price rises at thousands of roadside charging points.

Major networks including Ubitricity, the UK's largest public charge-point operator, and Geniepoint have introduced "dynamic pricing" -where users pay extra if they charge at times of day when electricity demand is high.

A quarter of public charge-points, excluding rapid and ultra-rapid devices, are now covered by this pricing model, according to the market analyst Cornwall Insight - although this is concentrated in London.

Drivers are charged a higher or lower rate depending on when they top up, to reflect wholesale and network costs which increase when demand is high.

The Telegraph says Ubitricity is currently charging drivers 45p per kilowatt-hour for 21 hours of the day, down from a previous 49p per kilowatt-hour, but 79p per kilowatt hour between 4pm and 7pm - a difference of 75%.

Experts warned prices need to be transparent and properly communicated, and avoid deterring drivers at a time when they are being encouraged to buy electric vehicles.

Massive pay-day

The billionaire gambling tycoon Denise Coates was handed one of Britain's biggest ever pay-days again last year despite a fall in profits at her betting empire.

Denise Coates was paid £213million of salary and a £45million dividend in the year to March 2022 by her company Bet365, which she set up in Stoke-on-Trent two decades ago.

Ms Coates' salary was down from £250million the year before, after the business piled money into international expansion instead of taking it as profit.

The Telegraph says it is the second year that the amount paid to Ms Coates, bet365 chief executive and one of Britain's richest women, has fallen. She was given a salary of £421million in the year to March 2020.

Jobs to go at fast-food giant

The head of McDonald's has warned staff to expect job cuts in a huge reorganisation that will also see it speed up plans for new restaurants.

Its boss Chris Kempczinski said the fast-food giant was being hurt by an "outdated and self-limiting" structure.

"We are trying to solve the same problems multiple times - aren't always sharing ideas," he said.

In a letter sent to employees globally, it said it would review corporate staffing levels by April.

"There will be difficult discussions and decisions ahead," the memo said.

The BBC says McDonald's employs about 200,000 people in corporate roles and its owned restaurants, with 75% of them outside located outside of the US.

UK house prices down again

The average house price in the UK fell for the fourth month in a row in December, as the rising cost of living and higher interest rates hit home.

December prices fell by 1.5% compared to November, meaning the average house price is now £281,272, said Halifax.

It said uncertainty about how the cost of living will affect household bills, as well as rising interest rates, is slowing the housing market.

It expects buyers and sellers to "remain cautious" over the coming year, says the BBC.


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