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  • Capium Accounting Software – user review 

    I have found this software to be very useful in managing workflow and stacking tasks in order of priority. It gives you a comprehensive oversight of upcoming deadlines and enables you to automate tasks with email and document templates, letting you get client sign-off on for example capital expenditure on assets, regular filings such as the trial balance process and with multiple user accounts for clients, onboarding is simplified for greater efficiency. 

    Clients are sorted into different “baskets” by the nature of the service offering. These include Trust Tax Return, Work & Testing, Partnership Tax Return, Company Tax Return, Company Accounts, and Confirmation Statement. These services are all billable with a workflow management stream allowing reminders to be set and tasks assigned to staff members, or shared with clients, for collaboration, using checkboxes for the nature of the service offering to the client. 

    You can set deadlines from a specific date, and the system will flag the task as overdue if this is not met. You can also sort by priority, from low to normal to high priority; and to set the frequency of a recurring task. In the “My admin” menu, you can access a client list to look at individual accounts and ensure a holistic approach to client relationship management.  

    Client access can be restricted if you do not make a policy of sharing all bookkeeping records, although for documents which require client sign-off or content input such as the directors’ statement, there is an esign facility as part of the package. The software integrates with the client bank account, letting you see updates in real time. It uses a Trust Layer or API to link to bank accounts and access bank feeds of all transactions, with input data reported using an automated service. 

    You can drag and drop placeholders, add tags for easy reference, and upload sales invoices. The non-current assets register helpfully automates depreciation calculations where you specify either a straight-line or a carrying balance approach. 

    In the context of VAT submissions, you have different VAT settings and you can bridge the account to link to other accounting systems such as Xero, QuickBooks and Sage where you can view VAT details prior to submitting, after checking the appropriate settings have been applied to the client. Payroll is another service offering, with a flexible pipeline allowing you to process subcontractors and freelance workers in line with regulatory requirements. 

    Finally, tailored reports let you collate and manage accruals for approval whilst preparing the trial balance, which you would file with Companies’ House after client sign-off. The mode of input can be comprised of several funnels: bookkeeping, Quickbooks, CSV, Xero, manual and free agent. 

    In the process of client onboarding, regulatory requirements on KYC and AML compliance are handled by experienced third-party provider Verify, which provides a checklist of billable services with a small service fee per item, plus VAT. So an AML check costs the practice £4, a credit check costs £2, an international ID check is £2, and the same fee for a company check. The biometric check however costs £8.50 due to the added complexity of verifying biometric ID. Support tickets are enabled and a support line to address outstanding issues which obstruct the onboarding process. 

  • Celebrating Black History Month

    Nigel Farage’s claim that a mass deportation of those low-skilled immigrants who entered the UK via the so-called ‘Boris Wave’ 2021 to 2024, from countries outside the EU, will save a total of £234bn by prohibiting access to benefits and the welfare system for those who have naturalised and apply for citizenship via the Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR), has caused a swell in opinion polls in support of Reform which proposes stricter controls for visa applicants including stricter language and salary thresholds, and the requirement they apply for a new visa every five years.

    However, although last year net migration was still high at 431,000, this represents a decline from the 906,000 who successfully applied for ILR in 2023. Furthermore, the alleged cost saving of £234bn was taken from a thinktank report that was subsequently withdrawn as an over-estimate.

    The subject of immigration currently is politically contentious, so the time is ripe to look at historically what benefits Britain has gained from allowing skilled workers to meet an employment deficit, after population declined due to fatalities during the Second World War.

    Historian Colin Douglas held a talk at Hounslow House as part of Black History Moth, on the contribution of the Caribbean to WW2, which was vital in terms of supplying key resources and manpower for the British war effort.

    Of around 510mn residents of the British Empire, the Caribbean contributed 30,000/2.5mn armed forces, as conscription was extended here and also for India, which contributed 2mn troops. In 1940 post-battle of Dunkirk official propaganda focused on narratives of imperial unity.

    The Battle of Britain, between the RAF and German airforces, highlighted that the UK was more effective in airplane manufacturing but, lacking sufficient air crew, had to source personnel whose skills “consistently exceeding the UK average” meaning the UK extended its recruitment drive, with 5.5 thousand ground crew and 500 West Indian aircrew. At the time, pilots stood a one in two chance of dying in conflict with an 80% chance of being struck down or captured.

    In addition to providing skilled manpower, Douglas pointed to the fact that one-third of British oil supply was via the Caribbean – also a primary supplier to Germany though after the war broke out their supply failed. By 1940 the only source of bauxite was the Caribbean, and the US was its highest importer with the UK dependent on the supply chain for aluminium for munitions and aircraft, as well as shipbuilding.

    In 1942 February Nazi Germany launched the Battle of the Caribbean, which became the most dangerous shipping zone in the world – Douglas claims “All the ships lost to U-Boats in the conflict sunk in the Caribbean,” with the ocean around Tobago, a hotly contested source of oil, flagged as a key conflict zone and during the skirmishes rationing and blackouts were introduced.

    Post-war, rebuilding war damaged infrastructure and building new institutions such as the NHS required skilled workers, 1.3 mn was the shortage. In June 1948 the Empire Windrush arrived although not the first wave of immigration from the Caribbean – 1947 about 300 relocated to the UK. The Windrush had almost 1,000 onboard of whom 800 were from the Caribbean.

    During the war, 150,000 African American troops came over in the build-up to the Battle of Britain although after peaking at 200,000 the African population declined as were expatriates.

    The Race Relations Act in 1965 was a legal milestone in making racism and acts of racial persecution and violence a criminal offence.

    However in 2018 the Windrush scandal broke, with long-time British citizens who had emigrated after the war from colonial territories were denied access to healthcare and the right to work where those without proof of citizenship suffered mass deportation. All these events contributed to

    “Changing this country making a multi diverse society with Britain today having ethnic diversity as one of its key strengths.”

  • Exclusive VIP audience with trade finance professionals and academics

    Transcription, The New World Disorder 

    An audience with Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General of the WTO 

    And Alec Russell, Foreign Editor of the FT 

    A WTO report on the organisation’s activities in 2025 highlighted that despite political headwinds, 

    “Trade…can be a powerful enabler of inclusive AI -supported growth by helping economies access AI-enabling goods, such as raw materials, semiconductors and intermediate inputs. The WTO report estimates that global trade in these goods totalled USD 2.3 trillion in 2023. 

    The Trade-Related Aspects of International Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement lays down a common regulatory framework under which members can act to protect their IP, in areas including copyright, patents and trademarks. There is a separate section addressing protected business processes, industrial designs and layout designs of integrated circuits, and the semiconductor market globally relies on the WTO to intermediate disputes where a country’s collective expertise is threatened by trade practices undercutting prices or otherwise manipulating market conditions for these items. 

    In July, the Dispute Resolution Mechanism was triggered by the EU under Article 12 with a WTO dispute panel mediating in regards to “China — Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights” (DS611). 

    The panel found the following to be true: 

    As to the consistency of the ASI policy with the TRIPS Agreement, the Panel found that the European Union had not demonstrated an inconsistency with: Article 28.1, whether or not read in conjunction with Article 1.1, first sentence (concerning certain exclusive rights of patent holders); Article 28.2 read in conjunction with Article 1.1, first sentence (concerning patent holders’ right to licence their patents); Article 41.1 (concerning intellectual property enforcement procedures); and Article 44.1, first sentence, read in conjunction with Article 1.1, first sentence (concerning injunctions). In particular, the Panel found that the obligation in Article 1.1, first sentence stating that Members must “give effect” to the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement requires Members to implement the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement within their own domestic legal systems. The Panel concluded that Article 1.1, first sentence contains no additional obligation relating to frustrating the object and purpose of the TRIPS Agreement or other WTO Members’ implementation of the TRIPS Agreement. 

    With respect to the consistency of the five individual Chinese court decisions granting ASIs with the TRIPS Agreement, the European Union had advanced identical claims and arguments as those raised with respect to the ASI policy. The Panel therefore declined to make findings on these claims concerning the five individual decisions, as any findings would be duplicative of the findings on the ASI policy. 

    With respect to the transparency obligations under the TRIPS Agreement, the Panel found that China had acted inconsistently with the publication obligation in Article 63.1 of the TRIPS Agreement by failing to publish the decision issuing an ASI in Xiaomi v. InterDigital, read together with the reconsideration decision in the same case. The Panel found that China was not prepared to supply information requested by the European Union and had thus acted inconsistently with Article 63.3, first sentence. The Panel found that the European Union’s claim with respect to the provision of specific judicial decisions under Article 63.3, second sentence was outside its terms of reference. 

    Finally, with respect to the European Union’s claims that the five ASI decisions by Chinese courts were inconsistent with Section 2(A)(2) of China’s Accession Protocol, the Panel found that the European Union had not demonstrated that Chinese courts had applied China’s laws, regulations, or other measures in a non-uniform, not impartial, or unreasonable manner. 

    This panel finding demonstrates the continuing necessity for multilateral arbitration in trade disputes, and for a level of transparency to assure trust in imports from assignatory countries. Iweala explained the context of the decision as being “a commonly agreed approach to valuation… without trust in what you’re trading, there’s no appropriate unified valuation approach.”   

    She cited, separately, the Technical Business to Trade Agreement, which establishes rules to ensure non-discriminatory product standards and regulations that don’t unnecessarily hinder trade, while also encouraging the use of international standards and transparency to create a stable trading environment.   

    With regard to US Tariffs, she said these represented the “most severe disruption in world trading in years,” but highlighted that 72% of world trade is still operating under WTO rules; and that the US represents 13% of world trade. She has said that to fully activate its supervisory role, the WTO needed to be more adaptable – “more nimble and agile” in a fast-changing world, and see the situation as an opportunity to reform.  

    At a recent UN General Assembly, China made a big announcement – that it would no longer be classed as an emerging economy, with 23 nations’ delegates present. “Being a developing country,” explains Iweala, “accords you certain privileges to renege on agreements. We have closed the doors to some of the arguments… it’s a consensus general assembly,” but she acknowledged that where you reach a stalemate, you have to be more “nimble” in activating for pro-cyclical business enablement. 

    Alec Russell noted that “We’re seeing other markets trading more  – trading more between each other” in South-East Asia with a number of recent bilateral agreements in Southeast Asia. And many members “who took the system for granted – middle powers – gathered to campaign for systemic reform, notably in Singapore, New Zealand, the UAE and Switzerland, which got together to consult on reform and new trading opportunities.” He observed that trade now is done via electronic transmissions i.e. ecommerce and AI, the subject of a recent WTO report. 

    However, in response to the suggestion a parallel system is being created, the retort was “absolutely not”, but that many members have acknowledged their over-dependence on US markets, and on China for essential supplies. He describes the adjustment as being a “temporary re-globalisation, bringing others in from the margin”. 

    Russell asked Iweala outright, “What keeps you confident about multilateralism where the US is absolutely, combatively, unilateralist?” and points to the fact the EU has accepted a blanket 15% tariff on exports to the US. The EU has negotiated preferential conditions for some agricultural exports, and in return agreed to spend $600bn on investment in the US, and also to pay $750bn on energy produced in the US. 

    She responded that “The US remains a member – despite their disruption, they have to work within the pre-existing system.” She said the IBRD doesn’t accept the realities of rising nations, but that you “need a global approach” to tackle climate change, and national conflicts. Russell said that the Bretton Woods organisations are mired in the economic reality of 1945, and Iweala acknowledged that used to be the case, except that Donald Trump has accelerated the pace of change – “the sledgehammer approach”. 

    The panel responded to questions from the audience – “What has the WTO done to facilitate these proposed reforms to the system?” She responded that decisions require the consensus of members, and that the General Counsel Chair, one of the arbitrators, had put forward a set of criticisms of “unfair trade practices at the WTO”. One of these is subsidising domestic industries, as it enables them to sell exports at less than market value, as in China which, incidentally, has criticisms of other nations’ agricultural subsidies. The ‘green subsidies’ are frequently criticised by the IRA. She acknoledged that current policy does not deal adequately with existing subsidies. 

    And she pointed out that “China’s emerging market status helps them locally, but certain advantages and privileges disadvantage other struggling nations.” Reforms on industrial policy can disadvantage emerging market economies, with Costa Rica and Brazil joining the US on opting out. In the context of income divergence, which was increasing pre-pandemic, “If you look at the graphs now, you will see this is not happening,” and developed countries have recovered at a faster pace. 

    One of the recent reforms she spearheaded was 2023 the WTO’s Fishing Subsidies Policy – “Africa loses about $7bn per year from unregulated fishing… there’s going to be a basket of different instruments to help” Africa monetise its fishing industry adequately. Fossil fuels as an export category attract $2.3bn in subsidies, she said, and that technically “revoking subsidies is one of the most politically difficult things to do.” 

  • Palo Alto Unit 42 Response Report to Cyber Security Threats

    The group stated there were indications that “threat actors are finding leak site extortion less effective in compelling payments… threat actors are piling on additional tactics to ensure they get their payments.”

    In 2024, 86% of incidents to which Unit42 responded involved losses damaging to reputation or business processes, with attackers starting with encryption and data left, to lock users out of collectively managed files, to deleting VMWare and corrupting data entries with tampering or deletion.

    A popular tactic was to target “deep partner networks”, requiring a costly containment operation that was time-consuming, once the patch had been applied, to re-authenticate the connection.

    Clients operating in industries such as healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing and critical infrastructure have had to “grapple with extended downtime, strain on partner and customer relationships and bottom-line inputs”. The medium extortion rate increased nearly 80% to $1.25mn in 2024 from $695,001 in 2023.

    However, in cases where a payment was negotiated to the hackers, Palo Alto found that the median ransom payment rose just £30,000 to $267,500 in 2024, representing more than 50% decline from the original amount.

    The median initial demand for 2024 is 2% of an organisation’s perceived annual revenue, with over half of ransom demands falling between 0.5% and 5% of the victim’s perceived revenue, although outliers existed where over half annual turnover was demanded.

    In terms of the nature of attacks, just over one-third of incidents involved cloud-based data, with dangling logins left stranded as virtual infrastructure (SaaS) was exploited via connection re-routing. Lack of Multi-factor-authentication was just 1/4 of reported attacks, vs 1.3 in 2023.

    On numerous occasions, Unit 42 reported threat actors as having used “leaked API/access keys for initial access. This often gives threat actors leverage for further compromise….

    In 45% of cases when we observed exfiltration, attackers sent the data to cloud storage… a technique that can mask the attacker’s activity within legitimate organisational traffic.”

    Inactive personal accounts can be leveraged to launch internal attacks in an organisation’s software configurations (T1484 – Domain or Tenant Policy Modification); web-scraping for privileged account logins can be successfully masked as the attacker leverages “Abuse admin-level access” – or they can cloak their plugin’s activity by high-jacking cloud resources, taking snapshots of storage parameters to identify data the organisation considers valuable.

    Palo Alto said that although attackers have capacity to disable or modify tools, system firewall and Windows Event logging, even where exploiting a botte-necked workflow pipeline for privilege escalation, it is worth noting that in 75% of incidents investigated, “critical evidence of the initial intrusion was present in the logs. Yet, due to complex, disjointed systems, that information wasn’t readily accessible or effectively operationalised.”

    The group suggests the application of a “zero-trust” policy which is able to pivot quickly around a breach to contain it, and to prioritise security of valuable data by accurately monitoring access levels and data flows, to “stop unauthorised transfers, shielding your authorisation from IP theft, compliance violations and financial repercussions.”

    An emerging threat is the proliferation of AI-assisted attacks, against which it recommends the following precautions:

    • Deploy AI-driven detection to spot malicious patterns at machine speed, correlating data from multiple sources.
    • Train staff to recognise AI-generated phishing, deepfakes and social engineering attempts.
    • Incorporate adversarial simulation exercises in tabletop exercises to prepare for rapid, large-scale attacks.
    • Develop automated workflows so your SOC can contain threats before they pivot or exfiltrate data.

  • High Rise on the FTSE100 20/09/25

    Centrica rose 6% over the week, Babcock International 6.2%. Let’s have a look at what’s driving these high equity returns.

    Centrica plans to bump investment in green activities by 50% from 2023-28, including energy security of supply and flexbility, renewable and low carbon generation, as well as customer offerings that support the transition to net zero, said the CEO in the annual report statement.

    They highlighted the net cash position vs free cash flow as supportive of growth positions in LNG storage and carbon capture technologies. The adjusted net cash position is £2858m up slightly yoy from £2744m in 2023. This reflects the contribution of expanding its operating base. The company describes itself as a “conduit” for energy security policy, with a key example being the February 2024 LNG supply deal with Repsol, also with the two natural gas purchase and sale agreements with Coterra Energy announced October 2024.

    As regards regulatory financial reporting standards under GAAPs, the company was forced to acknowledge a decline in free cash flow of £989m compared to £2207m in 2023, with also a decline in adjusted operating profit – £1.6bn vs £2.8bn in 2023. However its sustainability record indicates a long-term growth prospect. Centrica has already attained 30% green investment based on the EU’s Sustainable Taxonomy and publishes any deviations from official reporting guidance whilst remaining engaged with stakeholders’ policy feedback. It cites the installation of 1million smart meters in 2024 as part of a new Meter Asset Provider sideline, “providing the group with a steady source of income in years to come while still helping customers decarbonise.”

    Additionally the company highlighted acquisitions in “proven renewable technology generation”, namely wind and solar generators and acknowledged its loss-making Rough natural gas carbon-recapture project would need a costing review due to the exorbitant overheads in 2025 estimated at between £50m and £100m. They have already sunk £2bn into preparing the site for development but concede that “While the site plays an important part in the UK’s energy and price security, and can be a crucial part of the future hydrogen economy, making material losses is not sustainable on an open-ended basis,” and they promise investors to review their financial exposure with this in mind.

    Other more profitable expansions of its energy service offerings include a £70m investment in Highview Power’s Liquid Air Energy Storage in June, an the 20MW hydrogen peaker in Redditch.

    Its services offering has demonstrated an increasing level of customer satisfaction, the Chair highlighted in his statement that “Over the course of 2024, we’ve seen further progress in improving customer service in British Gas Services and Solutions. We’re also delivering an improved NPS, a key metric of customer satisfaction, in British Gas Energy.” NPS signifies a customer’s willingness to refer an engineer on the basis of home visit, assessed through individual questionnaires.

    He explained that in 2023 the installment of prepaid meters under warrant was paused on the grounds of affordability for customers, citing a “material risk of financial hardship,” although Centrica ried to mitigate the affordability barrier by investing in “a number of changes to our systems, processes, training oversight arrangements, and we remain committed to supporting our customers, particularly the most vulnerable.”

    In the context of debt relief, they spearheaded the “You Pay: We Pay” flagship scheme which 100% matches payments that eligible British Gas customers are finding difficult to pay into their account to decrease the outstanding balance. He points to the suggestion of a social tariff underpinned by data sharing as an alternative way of monetising delinquency or default in debt accounts.

    However, he also claims the company has voluntarily given £140m to support affordable energy initiatives since the beginning of the energy crisis, to beneficiaries including £20m in January 2024 to the British Gas Energy Trust.

    The financial year 2024/5 saw three phases of a share buyback program, starting with a £200m tranche in July 2024, then a £300m tranche in December 2024, culminating in a £500m repurchase of its own equity in February 2025, with the total value of share capital held by the company finalised at 25% of its total equity level.

    “Additionally, we returned share capital to investors in the form of dividends, which came to 4.5p at the end of 2024, inclusive of a 1.5p interim dividend outlined in July”.

    Babcock’s Annual Report for FY 2025 represents its first FTSE100 index listing after over 7 years absence. The company was pleased to announce revenue of £4,831m, of which underlying operating profit represented £363m, up from £238m in 2024, with underlying operating profit margin of 7.5%. It notes that Statutory Cash from Operations was £357m, down from £374m in 2024, but that the organisation found non-GAAP reporting standards to more accurately represent its financial position.

    Around 74% of Babcock’s revenue is from defence contracts, with 5% from civil nuclear. It points to a £10.4bn “contract backlog” of forward orders yet to be delivered. Its underlying free cash flow was £153m, with net debt levels excluding leases standing at £(101)m.

    The company’s key business divisions as follows:

    1. Marine – design, build and through-life support for warships and submarines, and associated weapons handling and launch systems; creation of secure military communications systems; and what is claims are “world-leading commercial liquid gas equipment systems.
    2. Nuclear – through-life complex engineering support to the entire UK submarine fleet; owner-management of infrastrcture including Devonport dockyard; UK civil nuclear new build, generation support and de-commissioning projects; other international contracts in civil and defence markets.
    3. Land – asset management and through-life support for complex military equipment as well as ongoing skills training for ground deployment; systems integration and engineering services in power gen, transport networks, and mining equipment.
    4. Aviation – flying training for UK’s Royal Airforce, French Airforce and French navy; through-life support of military flying assets and other air operation support “for government programmes, saving lives and protecting communities”

    The company says the average underlying operating cash conversion is higher than or equal to 80%, and highlights a number of innovations as follow:

    i) better alignment between project management, engineering and commercial functions to mobilise pipeline contracts, as part of Global Business Management System to ensure continuity and identify risk factors.

    ii) improved governance controls for bidding, strengthening the legal review process on tenders.

    iii) FY25 published first Supplier Assurance Handbook to mitigate procurement risk, “enhancing transparency by detailing our sustainability considerations, audit and development process.”

    iv) new AI functionality with capex developing Athena – “As we look to FY 2026, the program will focus on large-scale integration across the business, supporting our governance of costs and efficiencies.”

    v) In employee management, it has rolled out an Engineering Role Framework with on-the-job training in key competencies, developing a Production Support operative scheme to access a wider talent pool; apprenticeships in space systems and cyber security; and taking a leading role in the UK’s National Nuclear Strategic Plan for Skills.

    Wide Moats – the Investment Prospect

    • own initial assets, with long lifecycle
    • operational asset knowledge and capability transfer
    • strategic partnerships with high barriers to entry

    Looking ahead, FY25 saw a refocusing of the technology team, “establishing cross sector and country working groups for each of our strategic technology capability teams… These themes drive innovation, ensure our technology relevance and empower us to deliver cutting-edge, practical solutions.”

    Babcock CEO trumpeted an upgrade in the company’s medium-term guidance, and a 30% increase in full-year ordinary dividend as well as revealing a £200m share buyback program which will be rounded off in FY26.

  • Analyst note Costain

    Costain Group Annual Report states they “received prestigious recognition for our approach when we obtained the London Stock Exchange’s Green Economy mark.

    “This identifies companies that generate at least half of their revenue from products and services that contribute to the green economy. The mark is only held by around 6% of companies on the LSE.”

    Note that a £10million share buyback program concluded in November 2024. Over the previous financial year, cash from operations FY24 was £42.7m (FY23: £69.6m), “resulting from increased operating profits offset by year-end timings of certain cash receipts at the end of FY23 and FY24, together with some end of contract outflows in FY24.”

    The adjusted free cash flow in FY24 of £27.1m (FY23: £70.2m) was lower than the same period last year largely “due to the timing of year-end working capital and higher tax and expenditure payments” with internal adjustments as funding was diverted into updating infrastructure, requirements for new business systems; and increased cash flows on adjusting items, with turn on non-current assets offset against “reduced pension fund deficit contributions.”

    Liquidity considerations aside, the adjusted operating profit margin was 3.4% compared to 3.0% FY23 yoy, with 4.4% growth in H2 as Costain states it saw greater operating efficiency and productivity in the Natural Resources division, with higher marginal profits.

    Total revenue from transport fell from 943.1m in 2023 to 845.8m in 2024, at a higher operating margin of 3.5% from 3.0%. Road and rail takings fell, although integrated transport projects experienced expansion of 92.7% The net business forecast is for an optimistic 5% growth rate for FY 2025 after an initial target of 4.5% over the course of 2025.

    As regards sustainability targets, their Scope 1 emissions reported 4,772 down from 4,875 (-2.1%) and Scope 2 (-3..16%) was 888 down from 1,299. Scope 3 emissions saw just a 1% increase from 281,765 FY23 to 278,248 FY24. In terms of accountability, Costain reports that 100% of relevant contracts were working in accordance with PAS 2080.

    Its ambitious target is for a 6% yoy reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, the same percentage for the absolute emissions value. In some ways accepting the limitations of its capacity to cap emissions is preferable to mis-reporting it, which happened recently with UK energy company Drax, whose share price fell over 10% in a day immediately after regulators signalled an investigation into whether the provenance of wood chips for biomass pellets was actually sustainable, and the emissions reporting for the diesel ships transporting wood chips from the US did not comprise a Scope 2 or 3 emissions estimate.

    Costain is targeting a dividend payout of 3x adjusted earnings. Payments were resumed in FY23 with a full-year dividend of 1.2p per share for the year, in line with the pension payments required for the year under the “dividend parity arrangement.” The board has approved a final dividend of 2.0p per share.

    The company is transparent about its desire to capitalise on the problems caused by climate change, and highlights the risk-based opportunities for its diverse business lines –

    “There is a high potential in the water sector – the capacity of sewage needs to be increased to deal with additional strains placed on it by rainfall intensity coupled with increased demand,” and considering the enhanced “maintenance and modification to improve the drainage capacity or resilience of its assets.”

    It highlights the initiative of a carbon tracker which will provide unified measures of resource usage across different project lines, and demonstrate areas of improvement relative to industry benchmarking.

  • Last Week’s Financial Round-up 08/09/25

    Gold pricing reached a new peak above $3500, alongside an 8.10% expansion in equity from Fresillo, a Mexican silver mining company incorporated in the UK which was one of the week’s high performers and infrastructural investment represents an effective counterpoise to gold contracts.

    According to the Times, growth obstacles for UK listed companies comprising “tax rises, slowing wage growth and sticky inflation” are affecting several service providers.

    Bunzl, for example, which sells PPE and sanitary equipment to healthcare and health and safety providers, as well as packaging, was poised to take advantage of new overseas markets as M&A revenue and adjusted operating profit for the year increased 7.9% with conversions indicated 3.1% revenue growth on an 8.3% operating margin.

    In its annual report, Costain reported cash from operations in FY24 was £41.7mn, (FY23: 69.6mn), resulting from “increased operating profits offset by year-end timings of certain cash receipts at the end of year FY23 and FY24, together with some end of contract outflows in FY24.”

    The company cited the “timing of year-end working capital” as well as “higher tax and capital expenditure payments” on investment in new systems and “higher cash flows on adjusting items”, although meeting the pension contribution deficit may have a detrimental effect on liquidity.

    Inflation proxy indicators

    Indeed, the CPI for July stood at 3.8%, up from 3.6% for June. The RPI, excluding the costing change in fuel and energy, was 4.8% for July, an increase from 4.4% yoy growth for June. The Producer Price Index (PPI) provides forward-looking outlooks of upcoming price increases based on slack vs actively engaged capacity, and acts as a measure of manufacturing inflation.

    The Purchasing Manager Index (PMI) provides an indication of future orders and growth outlook based on forward-looking pricing on manufactures and services.

    Trump’s foreign policy this month have not affected appetite for US 10-year Treasuries, which were stable as the return on Treasury bills, which must be held for 10 years until maturity, increased by 1bp from 4.27to 4.28.

    The coupon paid out on UK 10-year gilts rose from a yield of 4.84 the preceding week to 4.90 correct as of 2 September, reflecting market speculation surrounding suggested tax cuts to be announced in the Budget on 26 November, which may contain a new wealth tax to meet the current spending shortfall.

    Note that the Sentix Investor Sentiment Index, published today on forexfactory, was at -9.2 vs a forecast of -2.2; whereas the forecast for August was actually positive, and forward-looking analysts put the prediction at 6.2 where the actual value, predicated on a diffusion index based on surveyed investors and analysts, was -3.7.

  • Making sure your employees are a culture fit, with weighted benchmarking of firm’s offering

    According to the Kets de Vries Institute, the organisational culture audit is comprised of 13 core performance indicators. The patented reporting framework has modern usage cases, given that sticky wages are not keeping pace with Consumer Price Inflation (CPI), with services inflation at 5% in August, with the aggregated figure at 3.8%, its highest peak since January 2024.

    At Bloomberg, commentator Marcus Ashworth pointed out that the jobs market has seen a decline, with a net loss of 165,000 jobs in the period following Rachel Reeves’ October Budget, with higher employer NI contributions at a lower earnings threshold deterring firms from making new hires.

    One of the acknowledged remedies for a shortfall in new hires is to increase employer bargaining power, as a demonstrably productive work culture is a magnet for skilled service workers who are looking for a ‘best fit’ for their in-demand skills set.

    Internal training programs can enhance vertical progression within an organisation, or even horizontal traversing the internal divisions where a skills match is found with new vacancies. However, funding and promoting up-skilling is just one way firms can differentiate themselves to potential employees.

    A survey published first in 2018-19 by the Kets de Vries Institute looked at the disparity between where organisations believed they stood with regard to the benchmark, and the actual value assigned by the culture auditors. These parameters were stacked and weighted against the total sample percentage of answers to the organisational culture audit questionnaire.

    It is interesting to note that 3.80% of respondents stated they put their highest priority on capturing market share; and the same percentage agreed that “We gather information on what our competitors do on a regular basis”.

    In fact, the largest discrepancies fell in the parameters of competitiveness, with a 0.71% difference between the level at which it was practised, and how highly it was valued by respondent companies. On the flip side, ‘fun’ was found to be practised at a higher level than the value accorded to it, with a -0.64% variant value.

    Entrepreneurship’s actual value assigned was 0.56% lower than the organisations ranked it in terms of importance, and result orientation carried a 0.51% differential.

    These are both areas where respondents were aware that clearer guidelines need to be set in assigning R&D capital, registering patents and, where results cannot be accurately quantified in relation to Internal Rate of Investment (IRR), more communication with employees with regards to results expectations and how key performance indicators (KPIs) are assigned and ranked in order of importance.

    On the practice questions, 4.13% of respondents agreed that “Obtaining targeted results is a top priority in our organisation”, with the same percentage acknowledging that rewards were strongly performance-based.

    Client orientation was another area where the actual benchmark value assigned by the Kets de Vries Institute fell short 0.36% of the value attributed to its importance to respondent companies. In contrast, social responsibility had an actual value assigned which was -0.36% of where it was ranked in order of importance. It is clear that having an up to date Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system which employees can dynamically interact with in making sales and other offers like contracts or services is an area for improvement. A salesforce is only as good as its intel, so to prevent your employees chasing dead leads be sure to perform strategic analysis on target clients.

    The sample was categorised according to the responder’s level of seniority, and of their geographical distribution. In terms of the official hierarchy of respondents, they comprised of 5 figures from senior management, representing 33.3% of the sample; 7 figures from middle management, comprising 46.7% of those sampled; and 3 which were TMT forming 20% of the sample surveyed.

    Asian company representatives formed 20% of the sample (3 respondents), Europe 26.7% (4 respondents), 3 from the Middle East comprising 20% and 5 from N. America representing 33.3% of the sample surveyed.

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  • Pao Alto Networks SecOps white paper – executive summary

    Utilising GenAI and machine learning helps in operational deployment at scale, where previously it was among the top 5 KPIs, now SecOps teams are reporting “more efficient threat detection and response”, in key areas: 

    • Extended detection and response (XDR) 
    • Security information and event management (SIEM) 
    • Addition of GenAI engineering on platforms improves operational efficiency. 

    To gain further insights into these mega-trends and other developments in the security operations space, TechTarget’s Enterprise 

    Strategy Group surveyed 366 IT and cybersecurity professionals at large midmarket and enterprise organizations in North America 

    (US and Canada) involved with security operations technology and processes 

    The top 6 SecOps challenges were: 

    1. Monitoring security across a growing and changing attack surface (42%) 
    1. Managing too many disconnected port tools for security analytics and operations, making it difficult to piece together a holistic strategy and investigate complex threats (33%). 

    However, more than 

    half (55%) of organizations report that consolidation efforts 

    are streamlining the management and operations of the 

    many security tools and processes in use. 

    1. Operationalising cyberthreat intelligence (33%) 
    1. Spending too much time on high-priority or emergency issues and not enough time on strategy and process improvement (32%) 
    1. Detecting and/or responding to security incidents in a timely manner (31%) 
    1. Gaining the appropriate level of security with cloud-based workloads, applications, and SaaS. (31%) 

    Areas for improvement include: 

    Detecting or hunting for unknown threats (32%) and being able to visualise the threat landscape in targeting a reaction to integrated systems’ embedded rewrites by bad actors (36%). 

    Another core performance indicator was “keeping up with” a changing infrastructural service offering (27%) and ensuring a proportionate and targeted response based on threat priority analysis (27%). This was seen as an essential precursor for complying with regulatory compliance or corporate governance requirements (26%), on data brokerage and disclosure of known systemic threats. The timing of the response was also deemed important, with 25% stating it could be improved. 

    Maintaining a database of known threats is de rigueur for the majority of participants, most of whom say managing a growing data security set – 77% say this is not something they struggle with. Engineering automation was also an area just 18% of respondents would label an area for improvement, while 24% were concerned what the efficacy of stress testing patches and system updates deployed in the cloud in a reactive SaaS managed offering. 

    An estimated 80% of respondents were happy with their ability to triage threats before escalating them. 

    Know your toolset 

    At the moment, around 91% of organisations reported the usage of a minimum of 10 SecOps tools, though 30% have recently consolidated their offering to ensure systemic integration for existing and pipeline data protection solutions. 

    Nearly 9 in 10 respondents already using an XDR solution (64% of the sample) expect them to supplement vs replace SIEM and other SecOps tools; for XDR solutions still in development, reported 21% of the sample. 

    Drawbacks of SIEM solutions were cited as exorbitant costing on software licensing as the threat catalogue expands and requires consistent patching (32%); the expertise required to perform more advanced analytics than that sold over the counter (OTC) (32%); and that the context of threat intelligence to business processes was often overlooked (23%) as the process hinged on detecting rule creation in dynamic response to events (25%) which must be constantly redefined as the threat evolves. 

    Continuous threat monitoring and management were seen as a key component of 

    gaining appropriate levels of security oversight 

    with cloud-based workloads, applications, and SaaS moved up in terms of the number of organizations prioritizing it as an issue, reflecting continuing growth and change in cloud 

    infrastructure and applications. 

    Key drivers of these consolidation campaigns were cited as: cost optimisation (39%), reducing tools management overhead by simplifying and streamlining the offering (35%); and the desire to enhance more advanced threat detection capacity (34%).  

    The context of the threat, say respondents, can be lost in the weight of the response, with the security operations stack generating an “unmanageable” load of alerts (33%), and in parallel with this target was the desire to “reduce overhead associated with point tools integration, development and maintenance” (32%), so that after threats are ranked in terms of their potential damage to the system, permanent threat management plug-ins can be worked in which are reactive and deliver a cost-effective solution which is proportional to the degree of the threat and can be dynamically re-adjusted. 

    In terms of data governance in repositories, 

    • 43% are in centralised silos 
    • 47% are in “more centralized, but some distributed or federated data” 
    • With just 7% using distributed ledger technology 
    • And 3% with the majority of data either distributed or federated, but with some centralised data. 

    In relation to XDR response tools, the survey found that 39% of respondents found current tools were not appropriately assimilated, meaning threat detection was “more cumbersome” than it should have been; while 35% noted specific “gaps” in cloud detection and response. 

  • Analysis of Developing country debt finance initiatives, with the outcome of the 2025 Sevilla Conference 13th June to 3rd July.

    Key points: 

    • 93% of the most Climate Vulnerable Countries (CVCs) face a debt crisis. 
    • Many spend up to 5x the amount of budget allocated to addressing climate change on serving debts. 

    One case study is Kenya, which after the pandemic in 2020 applied via the IMF for an austerity funding package, and was forced to cut public spending by 15%. 

    Nowadays, 35% of its debt is to private creditors such as Citigroup, Standard Bank and BlackRock. These lenders charge interest rates of up to 10.4%. 

    A recent Oxfam report found that for every $1 the IMF recommended low-income countries spend on public goals that promote development and wellbeing, they were instructed to cut four times more via austerity measures. 

    Another case study is Sierra Leone, where overseas capital after the civil war meant its public debt swelled from $1.2bn in 2002 to $1.9bn in 2022. Around 73% of the country’s foreign debt is owned by multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF, which refused to grant debt relief.  

    The value of its currency has depreciated 50% in 2023. Public spending was slashed in the aftermath. Almost 70% of children in Sierra Leone live in poverty, with parents unable to afford school fees. 

    In 2020 the UK passed the Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Act, which impelled private creditors to engage in debt relief under the 1996 heavily indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. 

    “A subsequent government review found the legislation to have been a success and to have had no adverse consequences for the UK economy. With the HIPC initiative now outdated, new legislation is urgently needed to apply to the current G20 Common Framework.” 

    p.12 ‘Jubilee 2025 – the New Global Debt Crisis’ 

    The Jubilee 2025 global debt crisis report calls for Special Drawing Rights – a financial tool composed of a diversified basket of widely traded currencies – to be more widely available. 

    (see ‘Public Climate Finance provided: an analysis by financial instrument’, 2020/ ‘Climate Finance Provided and Mobilised by Developed Countries in 2016-20′ 

    Finance by private lenders often comes with onerous interest rates due to the perceived risk of the investment, yet when the borrower defaults private venture capitalists refuse to engage in debt relief, leaving governments and multilateral lending facilities to finance the cost of bailout. 

    Climate change finance in 2020, according to OECD data, comprised just 26% in grants vs loans which have coupon payments priced in on the input capital in a forward-looking structure to make profit from the cost of capital.  

    OECD figures capture four distinct components of climate finance provided and mobilised by developed 

    countries: (i) Bilateral public climate finance provided by developed countries’ bilateral agencies and 

    development banks; (ii) Multilateral public climate finance provided by multilateral development banks and 

    multilateral climate funds, attributed to developed countries; (iii) Climate-related officially supported export 

    credits, provided by developed countries’ official export credit agencies, and (iv) Private finance mobilised 

    by bilateral and multilateral public climate finance, attributed to developed countries. 

    The report was jointly prepared by the OECD’s Environment and Development Co-operation Directorates. 

    It also benefited from dedicated 2020 data inputs by the OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate (for the 

    majority of export credits) as well as donor countries (provision of 2019-2020 bilateral public climate finance 

    in advance of UNFCCC reporting, delayed to later in 2022). 

    Key findings: 

    Recap of 2020 figures and aggregate trends 

    USD 83.3 billion was provided and mobilised by developed countries for climate action in 

    developing countries in 2020. While increasing by 4% from 2019, this was USD 16.7 billion short 

    of the USD 100 billion per year by 2020 goal. 

     In 2020, public climate finance (both bilateral as well as multilateral attributable to developed 

    countries) grew and continued to account for the lion’s share of the total (USD 68.3 billion or 82%). 

    Private finance mobilised by public climate finance (USD 13.1 billion) decreased slightly compared 

    to earlier years, while climate-related export credits remained small (USD 1.9 billion). 

    Mitigation finance still represented the majority (58%) in 2020, despite a USD 2.8 billion drop 

    compared to 2019. Adaptation finance grew, in both absolute (USD 8.3 billion increase compared 

    to 2019) and relative terms (34% in 2020 compared to 25% in 2019). Such an increase is, to a 

    great extent, the result of a few large infrastructure projects. Cross-cutting activities remained a 

    minority category (7%) almost exclusively used by bilateral public providers. 

     Mitigation finance focused mainly (46%) on activities in the energy and transport sectors. In 

    contrast, adaptation finance was spread more evenly across a larger number of sectors and 

    focused on activities in the water supply and sanitation sector, and agriculture, forestry and fishing. 

    As in all previous years, loans accounted for over 70% of public climate finance provided (71% or 

    USD 48.6 billion in 2020, including both concessional and non-concessional loans). The share of 

    grants was stable compared to 2019 (26% or USD 17.9 billion). Public equity investments 

    continued to be very limited. 

     Over 2016-2020, climate finance provided and mobilised mainly targeted Asia (42%) and middleincome 

    countries (43% and 27% for lower- and upper-middle-income countries respectively). 

    Further, 50% of the total was concentrated in 20 countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas that 

    represented 74% of all developing countries’ population. 

    Mobilisation of bi-lateral finance initiatives depend on indigenous institutions’ ability to structure project finance deals with repayments assured, in meeting creditors’ requirements for return on principal by integrating multiple funding channels as each project enters its operational development phase. The loan may be collateralised with the cost of equipment subject to fixed or floating charges, and revenue streams must be channelled appropriately via so-called ‘waterfall’ or ‘mezzanine’ financing.  

    The report states that 

    Grants represented a much higher share of finance for adaptation and cross-cutting activities than for mitigation between 2016 and 2020. Grants typically support capacity building, feasibility studies, demonstration projects, technical assistance, and activities with low or no direct financial returns but high social returns. Public climate finance loans are often used to fund mature or close-to-mature technologies as well as large infrastructure projects with a future revenue stream, which are predominant for mitigation finance as well as in middle-income countries. 

    Grants represented a larger share of climate finance for SIDS, LDCs and fragile states, compared to developing countries overall. Countries within these three categories often present economic and socio-political conditions that do not favour loan-based finance due to limited absorptive and repayment capacity. Recipient institutions and projects in middle- and high-income countries tend to have a relatively higher capacity to seek, absorb, deploy and repay loans. 

    A common fallacy is that development finance is often mis-allocated or appropriated by illegitimate and/or corrupt regimes. In fact, after the Jubilee 2000 campaign for fair development finance, in nations where debts were cancelled the proportion of children finishing primary school went from 45% to 66%, the report claims. 

    The Jubilee 2025 report calls for the following actionables: 

    1. Private creditors legislation to be updated. 
    1. Systemic change of the IMF ensuring fairer (more proportional) allocation of voting rights. 
    1. A public global debt registry, to hold all borrowers and lenders accountable.  

    “Legislators in key financial centres like the UK and New York could introduce requirements that make loan enforceability contingent about timely disclosure in the registry. It should be independent from lenders and borrowers and could sit within a UN framework.” 

    Cites EURODAD, Bogota Declaration, 2023 (see extracts below) 

    1. Automatic debt cancellation following a natural disaster or economic crisis. 
    1. Comparable treatment for all creditors. A system to be introduced whereby those setting lower interest rates on repayment not to be required to service debt relief in the same proportion as those setting higher repayment rates. 
    1. A new global debt framework, as with the 2023 UN Tax Framework Convention, passed by the UN General Assembly, where the 4th International Financing for Development Conference timetabled for June 2025 could provide a springboard for further legislative change. 

    Global south CSOs demand justice and a change to the rules on debt and financial architecture – Eurodad 

    The poly-crisis facing Global South countries is reversing hard-won gains in poverty reduction as deep fiscal consolidation and austerity programmes dominate macroeconomic policy. Global debt policies launched by the IMF and the G20 failed, and many Global South countries are required to service multilateral, bilateral, and private sector debt crippling their ability to respond to domestic socio-economic pressures, and in effect de-invest in public services. 

    Global South’s constraints are both historical and contemporary. The colonial and neocolonial order continue through soft diplomacy and drip dependency in the form of official development assistance, foreign direct investment, and the promises of billions from the Global North private sector; coated with policy interventions that have seemingly targeted creating a hospitable environment for foreign capital to enter and exit Global South with minimal values being retained on Southern countries. This extractivism in policy advice has been long argued as contributing to the underdevelopment of the Global South. 

    We are alarmed that Southern countries remain locked in a vicious cycle of debt, climate, and extractivism, which deepens their dependence on commodities, increases environmental harm, and at the same time, sustains the uneven power structures between North and South, between lenders and borrowers…. 

    The 70 delegates assigned to the Bogota declaration, which was hosted by Columbia on 20-21 September 2023, represented experts and activists from civil society organisations, social campaigners, 

    and pan-national networks . 

    We, as CSOs and networks that historically work on debt across the globe, demand to 

    decision makers at national, regional, and global levels: 

    • Reform of the global debt architecture that addresses unsustainable and illegitimate 

    debts, by bringing transformative change to the current unfair and persistently 

    unbalanced rules. Towards this end, we further demand: 

    OUTPUT DOCUMENT 3 

    o Automatic debt service cancellation mechanism that protects countries of 

    the Global South from extreme events related to political, climatic, 

    environmental, economic, and security shocks. 

    o Improved debt contracts aligned with responsible borrowing and lending 

    principles, including state contingent clauses, such as climate or pandemic 

    clauses. 

    o Binding responsible lending rules for all creditors, including private lenders of 

    sovereign debts. 

    o The elimination of austerity and fiscal consolidation measures and IFIs’ 

    conditionalities. 

    o Advance towards the establishment of a fair, independent, transparent, timely 

    and binding multilateral framework for debt crisis resolution (under the 

    auspices of the UN and not in lender-dominated arenas). 

    Recent data publicly available on lending structures in Sierra Leone reported that the share of development cooperation that used budgeting execution procedures was 1 in a ratio of 1 to the use of auditing procedures. However, financial reporting procedures were used by 0 participants in PFM systems, and just 0.21 used procurement systems.  

    Forward spending plans were not dated more than 1 year in advance, with medium-term spending forecasts of two to three years virtually nonexistent, although the share of development cooperation on the national budget was at a ratio of 1:1:1 comprising reporting to the international management system, reporting at the expected frequency, and provision of the information requested. 

    The extent of parliamentary oversight on development cooperation stood at a ratio of 0.5:1 with respect to the regular provision of development information to parliament. The share of development cooperation reported on the international budget was 0, although the legal and regulatory environment for CSO was recorded at 0.75, resulting in CSO development effectiveness rated at 0.63. 

    The Sevilla Platform for Action on debt relief, resulting from the global consultation and consensus from the 13th June to the 3rd July, follows while the International Business Program alongside the development aid review assembled private sector stakeholders to ensure they are engaged with decision making related to debt structuring, project finance and initiatives to enhance global trading links. 

    The manifesto states its mandate (to): 

    1. To catalyze investments at scale and close the SDG financing gap, initiatives will help countries mobilize tax revenue; scale up blended finance, including guarantees, and local currency lending by MDBs; and increase financing for crisis response. 
    1. To address debt challenges, initiatives include a global hub for debt swaps for development; a ‘debt pause clause alliance’ to incorporate such clauses in lending; and a borrowers’ forum. 
    1. To support architecture reform at national and global levels, initiatives include a coalition of countries and institutions for country led and owned platforms; a coalition of countries that will include measures of vulnerability beyond GDP in all financing operations; and efforts to update the role of development cooperation at the global level.