Cirrus Environmental Services’ Boldon office will become Latus Group’s Northern hub

A South Tyneside occupational hygiene specialist has been snapped up for an undisclosed amount by growing Humber business Latus Group. Hull-based Latus Group has acquired East Boldon based Cirrus Environmental Solutions Limited, a move it said strengthens its national footprint while also establishing the group as one of the UK’s leading occupational hygiene providers.

The deal marks the fifth acquisition for Latus following investment from NorthEdge in July 2024. Cirrus, incorporated by co-founders Stuart Hovvels and Rachel Bowman in 2005, has technical expertise within key occupational hygiene services, including air quality and exposure monitoring; occupational noise surveys; local exhaust ventilation testing, and whole body and hand arm vibration monitoring.

Cirrus, which has 12 employees, has a team of highly qualified and experienced occupational hygienists to Latus. The acquisition further supports Latus Group’s rapidly growing occupational hygiene division, following the recent acquisition of Euro Environmental Limited in February.

The Boldon Business Park office in the North East will become Latus’ Northern Hub, from which it will provide occupational hygiene and broader occupational health services to the northern regions and Scotland, expanding the group’s geographical coverage.

Rachel Bowman and Stuart Hovvels, co-founders of Cirrus Environmental Solutions, said: “Joining the Latus Group is an exciting next step for our business and our people. As part of the Latus Group, we can offer our clients access to end-to-end workplace compliance solutions, backed by technology, with coverage throughout the UK.

“We look forward to remaining in our current roles and continuing to work with Cirrus’ staff and customers to offer market leading workplace environmental solutions.”

Jack Latus, CEO of Latus Group, said the acquisitions establish the business as a leading provider of workplace compliance solutions, underpinned by market-leading technologies, focused on keeping employees fit and healthy in work.

He added: “Occupational hygiene remains a key strategic growth area for us. As well as providing us with additional services and geographic coverage, the acquisition of Cirrus also sees us bring market-leading occupational hygiene talent into the Group – with a highly skilled team led by Rachel and Stuart.

“I look forward to working with them as we deliver on our collective mission of modernising workplace healthcare and improving employee health outcomes across the UK.”

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Christina Ong’s Como Group has emerged as a key shareholder in the lossmaking SL6, the holding company behind The Fat Duck and the Hinds Head, handing the celebrity chef the firepower to expand.

The Singaporean billionaire long credited with turning London’s Bond Street into a luxury catwalk has set her sights on a rather more idiosyncratic British institution: the country kitchen of Heston Blumenthal.

Christina Ong, the 78-year-old fashion mogul and hotelier dubbed the “Queen of Bond Street”, has emerged as the new financial backer of the celebrity chef’s lossmaking restaurant empire. Filings lodged this week show that her family’s Como Group has become a key shareholder with significant control of SL6, the holding company behind Blumenthal’s culinary ventures.

The deal hands the Ong family a foothold in one of British gastronomy’s most distinctive brands and offers the chef the financial muscle to push into new markets. It is understood the cash injection will underpin the expansion of Blumenthal’s award-winning operations, headed by The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, the three-Michelin-starred restaurant that almost single-handedly placed British “molecular gastronomy” on the world map when it opened in 1995. Blumenthal, 59, also operates the nearby Hinds Head pub close to Maidenhead.

“Como’s international experience in the hospitality sector opens up new doors for what comes next,” Blumenthal said, adding that the partnership would allow the group to “explore new possibilities”.

The investment arrives at a delicate moment for SL6. In its most recent set of accounts, the company conceded it was in talks with potential investors to secure long-term funding “to help overcome the current economic challenges [and] provide a foundation for future growth”. For the 12 months to the end of May 2024, revenues fell to £8.9 million from £9.5 million while pre-tax losses widened to £2.1 million, up from £1.4 million the previous year.

A spokeswoman for the company sought to balance the picture, insisting that demand for reservations across both restaurants remained robust and that the Hinds Head had delivered consistent month-on-month growth over the past 18 months, putting it on course for a record year.

Ong’s arrival comes only weeks after Blumenthal confirmed the closure of Dinner by Heston, his two-Michelin-starred ode to historical British cookery housed within the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge. The London site, which opened in 2011, will shut once the hotel tenancy expires, although a sister Dinner by Heston, opened in 2023 inside the Atlantis The Royal hotel on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah, continues to trade.

For Como Group, the deal extends a hospitality and lifestyle empire that already spans 15 countries. Headquartered in Singapore and controlled by the Ong family, it operates 11 restaurants, the bulk of them in its home city, alongside a portfolio of 19 luxury hotels and resorts in markets including London, Italy, France, the Maldives, Bali, Australia and Thailand. The group’s first foray into food and beverage came in 1989, when it opened the Armani Café in London.

Ong herself is a fixture of British retail and luxury. She founded the Club21 fashion boutiques in 1972 and, through Challice, the investment vehicle she runs with her 80-year-old husband Ong Beng Seng, holds a 56 per cent stake in Mulberry, the British leather goods house. Her interests also include a string of fashion franchise stores running brands such as Emporio Armani.

“We see this partnership as the beginning of something very special,” Ong said. “We look forward to supporting that continued evolution of these iconic restaurants, while unlocking new opportunities for thoughtful growth in the years ahead.”

The deal also marks a public reappearance for the Ong family on the corporate stage. Last year, Ong Beng Seng was fined S$23,400 after pleading guilty to a charge linked to a gift scandal involving a former Singaporean government minister. He had faced a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment, but a judge granted “judicial mercy” in light of his poor health.

For Blumenthal, who has spent three decades coaxing Britons into eating snail porridge and bacon-and-egg ice cream, the message to the dining public is more prosaic. With Como’s chequebook now within reach, the chef has the runway to refresh, and quite possibly enlarge, an empire that, for all its critical acclaim, has been struggling to make the books balance.

Amy Ingham

Amy is a newly qualified journalist specialising in business journalism at Business Matters with responsibility for news content for what is now the UK’s largest print and online source of current business news.

Thermos is recalling more than 8 million food jars and bottles after a dangerous defect caused stoppers to “forcefully eject,” leaving some consumers blind.

The Illinois-based company’s recall impacts about 5.8 million Stainless King Food Jars and 2.3 million Sportsman Food & Beverage Bottles sold over more than 15 years, according to a Thursday notice from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Thermos has received 27 reports of stoppers striking users when the containers were opened. Three people suffered permanent vision loss after being hit in the eye, regulators said.

CHILD SAFETY RISK SPARKS POPULAR NASAL SPRAY RECALL, NEARLY 800K BOTTLES IMPACTED

The Thermos 16-oz Stainless King Food Jar (SK3000), 40-oz Sportsman Food & Beverage Bottle (SK3010), and 24-oz Stainless King Food Jar (SK3020) have been recalled. (Consumer Product Safety Commission)

Officials say the containers lack a pressure-relief mechanism, allowing pressure to build up when food or liquids are stored inside for an extended period.

“If perishable food or beverages are stored in the container for an extended period of time, the stopper can forcefully eject when opened, which can result in serious impact injury and laceration hazards to the consumer,” the CPSC said.

The recall includes:

• Thermos Stainless King Food Jars, models SK3000 (16 oz) and SK3020 (24 oz), manufactured before July 2023
• All Thermos Sportsman Food & Beverage Bottles, model SK3010 (40 oz)

NEARLY 13K TODDLER TOWERS RECALLED AFTER DOZENS OF INJURIES FROM STOOLS COLLAPSING, TIPPING

Officials say the containers lack a pressure-relief mechanism, allowing pressure to build up when food or liquids are stored inside for an extended period. (Consumer Product Safety Commission)

The products were sold in multiple colors at major retailers, including Target and Walmart, as well as online through Amazon, Thermos and other sites. 

They were available from March 2008 through July 2024 for about $30.

The Thermos logo appears on the side of the products, with model numbers printed on the bottom. The items were manufactured in China and Malaysia.

GHIRARDELLI RECALLS DRINK MIXES OVER POTENTIAL SALMONELLA CONTAMINATION

The products were sold in multiple colors at major retailers, including Target and Walmart, as well as online through Amazon, Thermos and other sites. (iStock)

Consumers are urged to stop using the recalled products immediately.

“Consumers should stop using the recalled Food Jars and Bottles immediately and contact Thermos to receive a free replacement pressure relief stopper or replacement Bottle, depending on the model,” the CPSC said.

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FOX Business reached out to Thermos for comment.

Lloyds has published its latest business barometer for April

Business confidence in Wales has risen shows latest research from Lloyd Bank. In April companies in Wales reported unchanged confidence in their own trading outlook month-on-month at 46%.

When taken alongside their optimism in the economy, up 16 points to 30%, this gives a headline confidence reading of 38% (30% in March). Anything above zero is positive reading.

According to the bank’s latest business barometer, Wales enjoyed the largest year-on-year confidence growth of all the UK’s nations and regions. It was also the only area to report both year-on-year and month-on-month growth.

A net balance of 34% of businesses in Wales also expect to increase staff levels over the next year, up nine points from last month.

Looking ahead to the next six months, Wales businesses identified their top target areas for growth as investing in their team, for example through training (48%), introducing new technology, such as AI or automation (42%), and evolving their offering, for example by introducing new products or services (40%).

READ MORE: New South Wales to London train service launch dateREAD MORE: Cardiff headquartered bakery group Finsbury Food makes another acquisition

Overall, UK business confidence fell 11 points in April to 44%. Firms’ confidence in their own trading outlook fell six points to 54%, and their optimism in the wider economy dropped 17 points to 33%.

The East Midlands was the most confident UK nation or region in April at 43%, followed by London at 51% and the West Midlands at 49%.

Nathan Morgan, area director for Wales at Lloyds, said: “Wales is bucking the UK-wide trend when it comes to business confidence, increasing during April against the national trend.

“This confidence is the result of Welsh firms’ ongoing focus on investment to protect their position against future disruption. At Lloyds, we’ll continue to nurture this recent momentum of growth by working with businesses across the nation to equip them with the financial tools they need.”

Amanda Murphy, chief executive for Lloyds Business and Commercial Banking said: “Businesses told us their confidence fell as inflation pressures re-emerged, global uncertainty persisted and costs remained elevated. While sentiment declined, it remained above the long-term average, with nearly two-thirds expecting stronger output in the coming year.

“UK businesses are resilient and adept at deploying strategies to defend growth in uncertain conditions. Over the past month, we’ve seen them opt for flexibility wherever possible. They’re building contingency into their short and medium-term plans, rather than expecting a rapid return to normal. Protecting margins has become more important.

“That means tougher cost scrutiny and a greater focus on balancing growth with profitability. “In this environment, as with other recent market disruptions, we continue to observe that sustainable success comes from discipline, resilience and clarity about what really drives long term value.”