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FREE TROUBLED WATER
Downgrade for Thames Water debt NICHOLAS EARL
THIS IS AN - BIRD ELON MUSK REBRANDS TWITTER AND CONSIGNS ICONIC LOGO TO HISTORY
JESS JONES ELON MUSK did to Twitter’s famed ‘Larry the bird’ logo what he has effectively done to the firm’s appeal to advertisers yesterday, killing it stone dead. The firm has been rebranded ‘X’ as part of new plans to create what he calls a new super-app. Recently appointed Twitter boss Linda Yaccarino outlined the company’s ambitious vision for X,
which she said will make a “big impression”. She tweeted: “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centred in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine.” Musk bought the social media platform for $44bn (£34bn) last year. Since taking it over, the billionaire
The famous logo is now bereft of life after the move
has cut costs, jobs and moderation in moves that have spooked advertisers, as have his occasionally controversial tweets – now to be known as ‘x’s. Marketeers were yesterday unimpressed by the rebrand, with one consultancy boss describing the move as “marketing suicide”. The firm is facing a battle for supremacy online after the launch of Meta-owned rival Threads. “The big question many people are
asking today is whether Musk is a genius or if he has totally lost the plot,” Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell said yesterday. “To ditch the iconic blue bird at a time a real competitor is gnawing on its tail seems bonkers. But Musk is known to be a little bonkers and it seems to keep working for him. “So if X can be everything he’s hinting it can be, maybe a little bonkers is all that’s really needed.”
THAMES Water owner Kemble has suffered a downgrade in the credit rating of its debts from influential agency Moody’s. The bad news comes as the UK’s largest water supplier scrambles for cash to shore up operations and tame its £14bn debt pile. The credit ratings agency has lowered its position on a £400m segment of Kemble’s debts – due 2026 – from B1 to B2, meaning it considers the sums to be highly speculative and a credit risk. It has also maintained a negative investment Britain can be better off outside Europe, outlook, says Keir - at lea warning How we reported on Thames water firms’ sewage Water’s dumping record gearing remains high at nearly 80 per cent, raising questions over how it will fund its turnaround strategy to fix leaking pipes and sewage overflows. This follows Ofwat’s decision in March to strengthen ringfencing conditions in the licences of water companies, alongside increased scrutiny on the financial resilience of Thames Water, which is Kemble’s core operating subsidiary.
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AGENCY WARNS WATER BOSSES SHOULD IF THEY FAIL TO CRACK PRISON DOWN ON “SHOCKING”FACE SEWAGE LEAKS
HOLAS EARL
ER bosses should face jail unless they up their act, the Environment cy (EA) said yesterday. government body’s chair Emma rd Boyd slammed the sector’s lling” failure to stop raw sewage g into rivers, and called for tougher ures to deter rule-breaking. said: “Water quality won’t improve water companies get a grip on their tional performance. We plan to t too painful for them to continue
like this.” The agency is now pushing for executives and board members chief behind bars if their companies to go are responsible for the most serious incidents of deliberate pollution. It also wants courts to impose higher fines for unauthorised much polluting incidents, and for company directors be struck off so they cannot simply to on in their careers if they commit move illegal environmental damage. “Company directors let this happen. We plan to make it too painful for them to
continue like this,” Howard Boyd said yesterday. “Investors should no longer see England’s water monopolies as a oneway bet.” This follows the EA’s latest damning report on the performance of England’s nine water and sewerage companies, revealing the lowest environmental ratings across the industry on record with 62 serious incidents of pollution,– the highest since 2013. Christine McGourty, chief executive of trade body Water UK said: “This year’s
results show that, overall, industry mus do better. Tackling this is our single biggest priority and every company has comprehensive plan in place to make th happen.”
The government has warned it is primed to step in unless companies improve their performance. Separately, regulator Ofwat has been working with the EA to open enforcemen cases into six water companies this which could all have been dumpingyear, untreated sewage into bodies of water without authorisation.
EXCLUSIVE
Credit Suisse adds another record fine to its collection after Archegos collapse CHRIS DORRELL CREDIT SUISSE has been hit with a record £87m fine by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) for its failures relating to the collapsed hedge fund Archegos Capital. The fines form part of a coordinated global penalty, including actions from the Swiss regulator
Finma and the Federal Reserve, which will cost Credit Suisse over $387.5m (£302.3m). The PRA criticised Credit Suisse’s “significant failures in risk management and governance” between the start of 2020 and the end of March 2021. “This is the PRA’s highest fine and the only time a PRA enforcement
investigation has established breaches of four PRA fundamental rules,” the PRA said. Credit Suisse would have faced a fine of £124.4m, but it was reduced after the bank agreed to resolve the issue rather than fight. The fines are directed at Credit Suisse Securities and Credit Suisse International, which provided prime
brokerage services to Archegos and entered equity total return swaps with the fund. The PRA said the risk management fell “well below the regulatory standards required”. “The failings were found to be symptomatic of an unsound risk culture within the business line,” the watchdog said. UBS, which acquired Credit Suisse
in March, has already agreed to pay off the fines. Earlier this year, it said it had set aside $4bn for potential lawsuits relating to the takeover. UBS said it “will implement its operational and risk management discipline and its culture across the combined organisation”. Credit Suisse was contacted for comment.
INSIDE RYANAIR BOSS SPEAKS OUT ON STRIKES P3 UK ECONOMIC FORECAST P4 SHAKEUP AT M&C SAATCHI P5 VODAFONE DIALS UP REVENUES P8 MARKETS P13 OPINION P14-15