This article was written by

Follow

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of PRM either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

Ofwat has been investigating how wastewater and sewage networks are managed across the industry.

Severn Trent was the eighth case it had completed in its industry-wide wastewater investigation, which has resulted in fines and enforcement packages worth more than £300m, including a £104.5m fine for Thames Water.

But Ofwat said that unlike the previous seven cases, Severn Trent “proactively identified problems in its own network” and “began putting them right” before the enforcement case was opened.

“Ofwat has formally accepted an enforceable package of undertakings from Severn Trent Water to ensure the company returns to compliance,” a spokesperson said.

Severn Trent which covers most of the West Midlands including Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, and parts of the East Midlands, including Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, said its work in spills reduction continued.

James Jesic, the company’s chief executive, added: “We accept Ofwat’s findings relating to issues that we proactively identified and began addressing these before the enforcement case was opened.

“Our investment programme in spills reduction continues across our region at pace with the strength of our whole organisation and supply chain behind it.”

Its expansion is being backed with a new £4.5m funding line from Barclays Bank

Pasture Restaurant Group has confirmed plans for its first overseas venue..

The group, which operates five steak restaurants across Cardiff, Bristol and Birmingham, has secured a £4.5m refinancing package from Barclays to support the next stage of its growth.

As well as its first overseas venture, in Barcelona, Spain, the funding will enable Pasture to invest further in its existing venues.

Founded in Bristol in 2018 by chef Owner Sam Elliott, its first Cardiff restaurant opened in 2020 and was recently recognised among the world’s top 50 steak restaurants. Since launching it has diversified its offering to include Nightshade speakeasy bar & Parallel restaurant in Cardiff.

The group has also invested its own farm and vineyard which supplies wine and produce for the restaurants, a butcher’s shop, and an online store.

The new Barcelona restaurant is expected to open early next year.

Mr Elliott said“When I founded Pasture Restaurant Group, the goal was simple: to combine great cooking with outstanding local produce.

“Eight years on, it’s incredibly rewarding to see customers continue to connect with that vision, and we’re excited to be entering the next phase of growth with plans to open our first international restaurant in Barcelona.

“Barclays has been a supportive partner throughout our journey, always understanding our ambitions and financial requirements. Everyone at Pasture is looking forward to what comes next.”

Greer Hooper, head of South Wales corporate banking at Barclays, said: “Barclays are delighted to strengthen our ongoing relationship with Pasture Restaurant Group, a dynamic and high regarded hospitality business with a strong regional presence.

“In less than a decade, the group has established itself across key locations including Cardiff, Bristol and Birmingham, building a reputation for quality and consistency. Their continued growth is a clear demonstration of their proposition and their ability to succeed in a highly competitive and evolving sector.”

Victims of the 2023 data breach at genetics testing firm 23andMe are to share a $46.75m (£35m) payout, after a California bankruptcy court ruled that the company’s new owner must compensate as many as 6.9 million people whose personal information was exposed.

The ruling, handed down on Tuesday, draws a line under one of the most damaging data breaches in consumer technology, and offers UK business owners a stark illustration of how a single security failure can help bring down a company once valued at $6bn.

Chrome Holding, which operates as the TTAM Research Institute, took control of 23andMe last year following the firm’s bankruptcy. It is run by 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki, who won the company’s assets at a bankruptcy auction with a bid of $305m.

Under the ruling, the settlement will first be paid to Kroll Restructuring, which represents the victims, within five business days of Tuesday’s decision. Kroll will then distribute the funds. The appointment of firms such as Kroll is typical in corporate bankruptcy proceedings.

Business Matters has contacted the legal team representing the victims to ask how many people will receive the payout. Representatives of Chrome Holding and 23andMe have also been contacted for comment.

The road to Tuesday’s ruling began with a hack that, on paper, looked contained. 23andMe filed for bankruptcy early last year, roughly 18 months after hackers gained access to around 14,000 user accounts, a small fraction of its total user base.

The damage did not stop there. Because the platform connects users to their genetic relatives, the hackers were able to access the profiles of those users’ family members, giving them reach into millions of profiles hosted by the company.

And this was no ordinary customer database. 23andMe offered “comprehensive” genetic profiles of people who submitted their DNA, including markers relating to their health and family history, meaning some of the stolen information was highly personal and impossible to change once exposed.

The fallout landed on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office fined the company £2.31m, finding that 23andMe had failed to put adequate measures in place to secure sensitive user data before the incident.

In May, California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta sued the company following an investigation that found 23andMe “failed to take basic steps to protect users’ data”. Bonta also claimed the firm “lied to consumers about the severity of its 2023 data breach”.

For smaller firms tempted to file this under big-company problems, the direction of travel from regulators should give pause. The 23andMe penalty sits alongside the ICO’s £14m fine for outsourcer Capita over its own 2023 cyber-attack, evidence that the watchdog is increasingly willing to punish security failures with meaningful sums.

23andMe, for its part, continues to trade, selling DNA testing kits online under its new ownership. Founded in 2006 and floated in 2021, the company was once valued at $6bn but has never turned a profit.

For entrepreneurs, the lesson is uncomfortable but plain. Customer data is a liability as well as an asset, and as this week’s ruling shows, the bill for mishandling it can outlive the business itself.

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.

Businesses are taking on part-time staff at the fastest pace in three years, as owners look to meet rising demand for workers without shouldering the long-term costs of permanent hires.

The part-time hiring index published by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) rose to a three-year high of 52.7 in June, up from 52.2 in May and comfortably above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction.

For SME owners, the logic is familiar. Stronger economic activity is creating a need for extra hands, but after two years of rising employer National Insurance, minimum wage increases and new employment rights, few are willing to lock in fixed payroll costs that would be hard to unwind if growth stumbles again. It is a strategy smaller firms have reached for before when the outlook turned uncertain.

Neil Carberry, chief executive of the REC, said: “After a long recruitment winter, these figures show truly hopeful signs. Temporary and contract work once again leads the way, as firms react to demand without yet feeling confident enough to commit to larger-scale permanent hiring.”

There were clearer signs within the data that the labour market is picking up steam after tax rises and minimum wage increases knocked hiring appetite across the SME economy.

The permanent hiring index jumped to 49.1 in June from 44.1 in May. That still marks contraction, and the measure has now been below the 50 threshold for 45 consecutive months, but the pace of decline is the slowest in some time.

Lisa Fernihough, advisory vice-chair at KPMG UK, said: “Although permanent placements are still falling, the pace of decline is easing and back to a rate we were seeing before the Iran conflict put a pause on active recruitment for many companies.”

The backdrop remains tough. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show unemployment reached 4.9 per cent in the three months to April, up from 4.6 per cent a year earlier, while the number of vacancies has fallen to a five-year low of 707,000. As Business Matters reported in May, long-term unemployment has climbed to a decade high, with small employers warning that successive cost increases are choking off new hires.

Candidate supply, at least, remains plentiful. The index measuring full-time jobseekers dipped to 60.2 in June from 62.4, while temporary candidate availability fell to 59.3 from 61.8. Both remain well into growth territory, meaning firms that do hire face a deeper talent pool than at any point in recent years.

For owners budgeting the year ahead, separate figures from research company IDR suggest wage pressure has plateaued. Workers received an average pay rise of 3.5 per cent in the three months to May, the fifth consecutive such reading. Nearly half of settlements landed between 3 per cent and 3.99 per cent, just over a third exceeded 4 per cent, and one in ten workers secured more than 5 per cent.

That stall in pay growth matters beyond the payroll run. Economists view the labour market as a crucial factor in whether the Bank of England raises interest rates this year. While the US-Iran war has put upward pressure on inflation, continued weakness in the jobs market could persuade rate-setters to leave borrowing costs at 3.75 per cent for the rest of the year, welcome news for any small firm carrying variable-rate debt.

For now, the message from the data is one of cautious optimism: demand for staff is returning, but Britain’s employers are hiring with one hand on the exit.

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.

Advertisement