South East Water has been fined £22.5m by Ofwat for repeated supply failures in Kent and Sussex between 2020 and 2023 that affected more than 280,000 people. While the root cause of the water shortages was extreme weather, the water regulator for England and Wales found that they were “in part attributable to and/or exacerbated by failures by South East Water itself to develop and maintain an effi...
South East Water has been fined £22.5m by Ofwat for repeated supply failures in Kent and Sussex between 2020 and 2023 that affected more than 280,000 people. While the root cause of the water shortages was extreme weather, the water regulator for England and Wales found that they were “in part attributable to and/or exacerbated by failures by South East Water itself to develop and maintain an efficient water supply system”. This has affected 286,645 customers since 2020, with some customers being affected repeatedly. In January, Ofwat began a separate investigation into a series of outages before Christmas that left tens of thousands of residents in Kent and Sussex without water, many of them in Tunbridge Wells. Chris Walters, Ofwat’s interim chief executive, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The investigation reveals that South East Water did not take sufficient steps to plan, to learn from previous events. For example, the big freeze event we had in 2018. “We all remember the “beast from the east”, and it didn’t proactively maintain its network. All the things it needs to do to prevent a lack of supply resilience, so tankering and storage tanks and storage reservoirs.” Walters said the fine would be paid by the company and “won’t show up on customers’ bills”. Asked why the process took three years, he said that investigations took time, saying supply interruptions for customers were “a totemic issue” and it was important to get things right. He added that South East Water “needs to step up and take more ownership of the problem”. The latest penalty comes a day after another supplier, South West Water, admitted supplying water unfit for human consumption after a parasite outbreak in Devon made almost 150 people sick. Last May, Thames Water received a record £104m fine from Ofwat over environmental breaches involving sewage spills, after failing to operate and manage its treatment works and wastewater networks effectively.
Deutsche Post AG press release ( DHLGY ): FY GAAP EPS of Є3.04. Revenue of Є82.86B (-1.6% Y/Y). Group exceeds guidance with strong free cash flow (excluding M&A) of EUR 3.2 billion (FY 2024: EUR 3.0 billion). Supervisory Board and Board of Management propose dividend increase to EUR 1.90 per share (FY 2024: EUR 1.85 per share). DHL Group expects an operating profit above EUR 6.2 billion and free c...
Deutsche Post AG press release ( DHLGY ): FY GAAP EPS of Є3.04. Revenue of Є82.86B (-1.6% Y/Y). Group exceeds guidance with strong free cash flow (excluding M&A) of EUR 3.2 billion (FY 2024: EUR 3.0 billion). Supervisory Board and Board of Management propose dividend increase to EUR 1.90 per share (FY 2024: EUR 1.85 per share). DHL Group expects an operating profit above EUR 6.2 billion and free cash flow (excluding M&A) of around EUR 3 billion for 2026. More on Deutsche Post AG DHL Group: Re-Rating Leaves Limited Upside; We Downgrade To Sell U.S. blasts Europe for targeting Big Tech with fines, lawsuits Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on Deutsche Post AG Historical earnings data for Deutsche Post AG Dividend scorecard for Deutsche Post AG
South East Water Ltd. was fined £22 million ($29 million) after the industry regulator blamed it for a series of supply outages that affected nearly 300,000 customers between 2020 and 2023. Ofwat proposed the penalty on Thursday after a failed attempt by South East Water to block it in the High Court. The two-year investigation found the utility did not maintain key assets and failed to plan suffi...
South East Water Ltd. was fined £22 million ($29 million) after the industry regulator blamed it for a series of supply outages that affected nearly 300,000 customers between 2020 and 2023. Ofwat proposed the penalty on Thursday after a failed attempt by South East Water to block it in the High Court. The two-year investigation found the utility did not maintain key assets and failed to plan sufficiently for periods of high demand. South East Water is under intense regulatory pressure after repeated operational failures left customers across Kent and Sussex without reliable supplies. Some areas endured days of boil-water notices or no running water. “It is entirely right Ofwat is holding South East Water to account, Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said after the ruling, adding that supply disruptions “are wholly unacceptable.” The investigation, published Thursday, does not cover the most recent service breakdowns, including a treatment-works shutdown in late 2025 and a burst water main in 2026. Those incidents prompted widespread criticism, though Chief Executive Officer Dave Hinton told lawmakers he would give himself eight out of 10 for the company’s response to the interruptions. He blamed climate change and more people working from home for the outages. “This investigation gets to the heart of the company’s supply resilience problems,” said Chris Walters, interim head of Ofwat. “We want to see South East Water take more responsibility and get on with fixing things for its customers.” The findings were first made public in a High Court ruling on Wednesday after South East Water tried to prevent Ofwat from issuing the penalty and publishing its plans. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Farmer had argued that the penalty could result in a credit-rating downgrade and derail efforts to attract new investment. “We recently filed for judicial review of an Ofwat draft decision and sought an injunction. Following a hearing, the court did not grant the interim injunction...
This adaptation of the 2022 novel – starring Weisz, Leo Woodall and John Slattery – fits it perfectly to television. It’s a proper show for proper grownups Vladimir is that rare visitor to the screen – proper television for proper grownups. The eight-part adaptation of Julia May Jonas’s provocative 2022 debut novel of the same name has not shied away from the properties that made the book great – ...
This adaptation of the 2022 novel – starring Weisz, Leo Woodall and John Slattery – fits it perfectly to television. It’s a proper show for proper grownups Vladimir is that rare visitor to the screen – proper television for proper grownups. The eight-part adaptation of Julia May Jonas’s provocative 2022 debut novel of the same name has not shied away from the properties that made the book great – black comedy, bleak insight, evisceration of accepted pieties – and fitted them perfectly to the new form. The screenwriter, Jeanie Bergen, who has obviously absorbed the book into her very bones, retains all of Jonas’s wit, confidence and, crucially, her willingness to dwell in grey areas and luxuriate in the complexities that govern life in middle age. She also has Rachel Weisz, giving an unswervingly brilliant performance as the unnamed protagonist, a tenured English professor beloved by her students, whose husband, John (John Slattery, playing his one part, but he does it so well and so much better than anyone else, who are we to object to seeing it again?), another tenured academic on the same campus – has just been suspended for sleeping with students. His defence is that this was before the rules changed. “It was a different time” is a recurring phrase – not just from him (for here is the beginning of Jonas and Bergen’s devotion to rug-pulling) but from his wife and other members of their faculty and peer group, male and female. Continue reading...
After major roles in horror hit Smile 2 and the live-action Aladdin, the actor is returning to her first love: music. She talks faith, fame and why singing is more freeing than cinema When Naomi Scott was 27 she had what she refers to now as a “quarter-life crisis”. She had been working as an actor since she was a teenager, swapping bit parts in adverts for plum roles in high-profile Disney TV sho...
After major roles in horror hit Smile 2 and the live-action Aladdin, the actor is returning to her first love: music. She talks faith, fame and why singing is more freeing than cinema When Naomi Scott was 27 she had what she refers to now as a “quarter-life crisis”. She had been working as an actor since she was a teenager, swapping bit parts in adverts for plum roles in high-profile Disney TV shows and big-budget Hollywood blockbusters including Aladdin (she played Princess Jasmine) and Elizabeth Banks’s Charlie’s Angels remake. She had also married young, after meeting her husband, ex-professional footballer Jordan Spence, at her local church in east London. Worried that the path she’d taken had its destination already mapped out, she felt frustrated, as if she hadn’t really “mourned the other versions of my life”, as the now 32-year-old puts it. Part of that process, it turned out, was returning to her first love: music. “I felt I had to go back to basics, to a childlike writing process,” she explains, sipping a black coffee in a vast, sparsely decorated cafe in Hackney, east London, her faded red hair contrasting with the beige backdrop. “Just me on the piano at 14, allowing whatever comes naturally to come. So that’s what I did.” Music had always been in her orbit, be it via singing in a church choir or later working with the bonkers pop production house Xenomania. Somewhere along the way, however, acting had taken over. Continue reading...
From grappling at corners to VAR, the endless list of complaints reflects a wider sense of dislocation from ‘the product’ A terrible boredom stalks the land. Across the nation’s television studios and podcast armchairs, wearied men grizzle accursedly with forked tongues into branded microphones: entombed by a game they despise and yet are paid so generously to discuss. Out there in the wild digita...
From grappling at corners to VAR, the endless list of complaints reflects a wider sense of dislocation from ‘the product’ A terrible boredom stalks the land. Across the nation’s television studios and podcast armchairs, wearied men grizzle accursedly with forked tongues into branded microphones: entombed by a game they despise and yet are paid so generously to discuss. Out there in the wild digital beyond, the sickness festers still deeper. The game has gone , they type into a little white box. This is not the football I once loved , click send. The beautiful game is broken , pleads the Telegraph. They think it’s all over, and perhaps it always was. Arne Slot is no longer enjoying himself , and presumably a good proportion of the Liverpool fans at Molineux on Tuesday night know exactly how he feels. John Terry is no longer enjoying himself. Yaya Touré is “disappointed”. Ruud Gullit is so disgusted he has decided to stop watching. Chris Sutton thinks Arsenal will be the ugliest winners in Premier League history. Mark Goldbridge is bored out of his mind, albeit nowhere near as bored as you would presumably need to be to watch a Mark Goldbridge livestream. Continue reading...
The prosecution: Jenny double quotation mark I worry about my carbon footprint, but you can’t go everywhere by train and I want to see the world My husband, Teddy, and I are very environmentally conscious and try to minimise our carbon footprints. We heat the house with a heat pump, we’re vegetarian and we hardly use the car. We live on the border of France and Switzerland, and rarely fly because ...
The prosecution: Jenny double quotation mark I worry about my carbon footprint, but you can’t go everywhere by train and I want to see the world My husband, Teddy, and I are very environmentally conscious and try to minimise our carbon footprints. We heat the house with a heat pump, we’re vegetarian and we hardly use the car. We live on the border of France and Switzerland, and rarely fly because it has an enormous carbon footprint. One long-haul flight can generate more CO 2 than the average citizen of some countries does in a year. We haven’t flown long distances in 12 years. We once even took the train from here to see family in Scotland, and the journey was horrendous. After that experience, I do fly to see them once a year. Teddy’s fine with me flying to see my family, but I’d also like to have a winter holiday with him. We’re retired, and he just sits on his computer all day doing mathematical models like he did in his job. I’m 73 and he’s 69; it’s time to do things. double quotation mark Teddy and I are punishing ourselves for no reason. Our abstinence doesn’t make a dent in global carbon emissions I’d really love to go to Madeira. It’s cold, grey and miserable here now, and Madeira would be a great escape. It isn’t as far as the Caribbean or Australia, so we’d save some emissions too. I’ve considered where we could get to by train, but anywhere warm and sunny is too far. I did think about Italy, and we’ve taken the train there before, but the journey was too long. There were also horrendous storms in Italy once so I get worried about extreme weather. I get upset when people don’t seem to care about their carbon footprints or what’s happening to the planet. I’m reluctant to go to our local social club, because I invariably hear about people’s exotic holidays. I want to hear about their adventures, but it also makes me seethe because I’ve decided I shouldn’t fly and neither should they. When I hear their stories, I feel as if Teddy and I are punishing ourselve...
New research suggests older people have more progressive views on women’s rights than younger generations. This direction of travel is deeply concerning It is usually assumed that young people are more liberal than older generations. Not according to startling new research carried out in 29 countries, including the UK, that suggests that almost a third of gen Z men believe that a wife should alway...
New research suggests older people have more progressive views on women’s rights than younger generations. This direction of travel is deeply concerning It is usually assumed that young people are more liberal than older generations. Not according to startling new research carried out in 29 countries, including the UK, that suggests that almost a third of gen Z men believe that a wife should always obey her husband. A similar number say a husband should have the final say on important decisions. Although those stats are for a 29-country average, it seems to reflect worries about a masculinity crisis among young men in the UK . What century are we living in? It could be a snapshot from the 1970s, but even back then, men in the UK who expressed such views could expect to be laughed at. They were swimming against the tide, as legislation was passed outlawing sex discrimination and creating a (theoretical) right to equal pay. Joan Smith is an author, journalist and a former chair of the mayor of London’s VAWG board. Her latest book is Unfortunately, She Was a Nymphomaniac: A New History of Rome’s Imperial Women Continue reading...
Emma Stone as a kidnapped, shaven-headed pharmaceuticals CEO who might also be the ruler of an alien master race? It says a lot about director Yorgos Lanthimos that Bugonia was arguably his most straightforward film to date. For this remake of the cult 2003 South Korean movie Save the Green Planet! we were invited into the unkempt home of beekeeper Teddy (Jesse Plemons), a paranoid conspiracy theo...
Emma Stone as a kidnapped, shaven-headed pharmaceuticals CEO who might also be the ruler of an alien master race? It says a lot about director Yorgos Lanthimos that Bugonia was arguably his most straightforward film to date. For this remake of the cult 2003 South Korean movie Save the Green Planet! we were invited into the unkempt home of beekeeper Teddy (Jesse Plemons), a paranoid conspiracy theorist whose internet research has led him to believe that aliens are poisoning his bees – and that only he can save life on Earth from extinction. He enlists his neurodivergent cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) to kidnap high-flying Michelle Fuller (Stone), whose company Auxolith seems to have caused Teddy’s mother some kind of irreversible harm in the past. Stone enjoys pushing herself artistically for Lanthimos and Bugonia was no different: here we see her knocked unconscious in the back of a car while a panicking Don takes chunks out of her hair with a pair of clippers (Teddy insists that she can only communicate with her alien peers via her hair). By the time she’s been doused from head to toe in antihistamine cream she looks like, well, an alien. Stone is superb as the cut-throat girl boss trying to turn her company’s rep around with performative empathy: feel free to leave at 5.30pm, she tells her staff, before reminding them that this isn’t compulsory, and that they really should make sure they have done all their tasks first. But hey, it’s up to them! Even when tied up in Teddy’s basement, she calmly deploys every trick she’s learned from top CEO-ing – reasoning, bargaining, even faking an admission of guilt. She truly believes she can get herself out of any sticky situation with the right corporate-speak. But Plemons’s stressed, sweating Teddy is her match: a man pushed so close to the edge that no amount of smooth-talk, or even hard evidence, can dissuade him from his mission. There is no reasoning with this type of person. Anyone who’s been on social media at any point in...
Jonathan Varane’s 2026 didn’t get off to the best start. Four days into the new year, the QPR midfielder sprained a knee during a 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday and was a frustrated spectator for more than a month. Varane had been desperate to play his part, with QPR hoping to push for the playoffs, but the 24-year-old took the opportunity to indulge in two of his other passions: reading and his...
Jonathan Varane’s 2026 didn’t get off to the best start. Four days into the new year, the QPR midfielder sprained a knee during a 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday and was a frustrated spectator for more than a month. Varane had been desperate to play his part, with QPR hoping to push for the playoffs, but the 24-year-old took the opportunity to indulge in two of his other passions: reading and history. That included a trip with his teammate Paul Nardi to the British Museum, where the ancient Egyptian artefacts proved of particular fascination. “It’s interesting to know a little bit about the history of the world,” Varane says. “The British Museum is really rich in history. Football is not all of my life. Of course, I like playing football. It’s a big part of my life, but it’s not everything. When you’re injured, if football is your whole life, you can be depressed. I’m feeling good because I think it happened for a reason. I try to do other things … I like reading. I’m really curious. During this time, I could do other things.” When the weather permits, Varane has also been exploring his adopted home of Windsor, even if he has yet to go inside the castle. “I was walking around a lot of times with my family,” he says. “I like it because it’s more peaceful. I have my peace there. A lot of nature.” Given Varane’s importance to Julian Stéphan’s exciting young team, QPR supporters will be delighted to hear he is enjoying life in England since joining from the Spanish club Sporting Gijón in August 2024. The west London club are understood to have rejected offers from Spanish and French sides for the imposing midfielder after rewarding him with a new contract following his first season. View image in fullscreen Jonathan Varane (front) gets the better of Sheffield United’s Tahith Chong but the Blades accounted for one of QPR’s three defeats in their last four games. Photograph: Ben Whitley/PA Varane has cemented his popularity with a promising start under Stéphan, who coach...
As a father of four, Viktor Ilchak was not supposed to serve in the army. Ukraine does not mobilise men who have three or more children. His wife and children cried and begged him not to go to war. But he had made up his mind. “A typical Capricorn, so stubborn,” says his wife, Sveta. It was 2015, the war in Donbas was growing in intensity. “I heard someone on TV complaining that Roma aren’t defend...
As a father of four, Viktor Ilchak was not supposed to serve in the army. Ukraine does not mobilise men who have three or more children. His wife and children cried and begged him not to go to war. But he had made up his mind. “A typical Capricorn, so stubborn,” says his wife, Sveta. It was 2015, the war in Donbas was growing in intensity. “I heard someone on TV complaining that Roma aren’t defending their homeland. This pissed me off, and so I volunteered,” says Ilchak. In the territorial recruitment centre in Uzhhorod the Ukrainian soldiers were surprised, but they had to take him. Ilchak and his family live in Radvanka, one of several Roma settlements in Uzhhorod, the capital of Transcarpathia, a Ukrainian province in the far west bordering Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Poland. It hosts the largest population of Roma in Ukraine. About 3,500 people live here, explains Myroslav Horvat, the only Roma councillor in the city. The streets are unpaved and many houses have no running water. View image in fullscreen Ilchak and his family live in a small room with no windows in Radvanka, a Roma settlement in Uzhhorod Ilchak’s family lives in a room measuring about 10 sq metres. There are no windows and only basic furniture. The parents and three daughters sleep on the large bed, a teenage son on the floor. Ilchak fought in Donbas and after the full-scale invasion also served around Mariupol. As a tank mechanic he was wounded four times and carries shrapnel from a Russian bomb in his arm. On his army jacket there shine several medals, including the Order for Courage, presented to him by president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also got one from the city council because no other Roma person in Uzhhorod had served as long as him – a whole decade. Last September, Ilchak returned home. For now, he takes care of his children and does what he can for the community. His main plan for this year is to set up an NGO. All documents have already been filed. The name: Transcarpathian Roma ass...
Severe market conditions impact sales (down 46% y/y to €132m) EBITDA down 163% y/y to -€6m -€2.13 EPS resulting from €12m loss in the financial year DÜSSELDORF, 5 March 2025 – The CLIQ Group publishes today its audited 2025 financial statements. The Annual Report 2025 is available on the Group’s website at https://cliqdigital.com/investors/financials. As previously announced, CLIQ has optimised it...
Severe market conditions impact sales (down 46% y/y to €132m) EBITDA down 163% y/y to -€6m -€2.13 EPS resulting from €12m loss in the financial year DÜSSELDORF, 5 March 2025 – The CLIQ Group publishes today its audited 2025 financial statements. The Annual Report 2025 is available on the Group’s website at https://cliqdigital.com/investors/financials. As previously announced, CLIQ has optimised its financial reporting by focusing on the mandatory annual and half-year financial statements and publications instead of quarterly financial reports and earnings calls. In line with statutory requirements, the Annual Report 2025 has been prepared and published in German as the legally required language. A summarised income statement, balance sheet and cash flow overview shown here: Income Statement in millions of € 4Q 2025 3Q 2025 Δ FY 2025 FY 2024 Δ Sales 12.3 21.5 -43% 131.9 243.0 -46% CAC for the period -5.7 -14.4 -52.7 -97.1 Cost of sales (ex CAC for the period) -5.8 -8.3 -57.6 -100.3 Operating expenses -4.9 -7.6 -28.1 -35.5 EBITDA -4.1 -8.7 53% -6.4 10.2 -163% Margin -34% -41% -5% 4% Depreciation & amortisation -2.0 -1.8 -7.3 -34.9 EBIT -6.2 -10.5 42% -13.7 -24.7 45% Financial result 0.2 -0.1 -0.4 -0.1 Income taxes 0.6 2.1 1.7 -3.1 Profit / Loss for the period -5.4 -8.5 36% -12.4 -27.9 55% EPS (basic, in €) -0.93 -1.45 0.52 -2.13 -4.75 2.62 Cash Conversion & Cash Position in millions of € 4Q 2025 3Q 2025 FY 2025 FY 2024 EBITDA -4.1 -8.7 -6.4 10.2 Δ Contract costs 4.8 14.0 24.4 22.0 Δ Other working capital 6.7 -0.1 10.0 -18.5 Taxes, financial result & others -0.7 0.8 -5.4 -5.0 Cash flow from operating activities 6.7 6.0 22.6 8.7 Cash flow from investing activities -1.1 -0.1 -2.1 -5.3 Operating free cash flow 5.6 6.0 20.6 3.4 Cash flow from financing activities -0.3 -0.6 -1.7 -7.1 Cash flow for the period 5.3 5.4 -3.7 -3.7 Net cash position at closing 30.8 25.4 30.8 11.9 Balance sheet in millions of € 31 Dec 2025 31 Dec 2024 31 Dec 2025 31 Dec 2024 Goodwill 20.9 20.9 Equ...
Dow Jones Futures Fall, Oil Prices Rise Again; AI Chip Giant Broadcom Jumps 3/04/2026 The stock market rallied Wednesday but the major indexes are still below their 50-day lines. Broadcom earnings topped views late. 3/04/2026 The stock market rallied Wednesday but the major indexes are...
Dow Jones Futures Fall, Oil Prices Rise Again; AI Chip Giant Broadcom Jumps 3/04/2026 The stock market rallied Wednesday but the major indexes are still below their 50-day lines. Broadcom earnings topped views late. 3/04/2026 The stock market rallied Wednesday but the major indexes are...