Thursday newspaper round-up: South East Water, Asda, The Arts Club

(Sharecast News) - South East Water could lose its operating licence after residents across Kent and Sussex faced up to a week without water. The environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, has called for the regulator to review the company's operating licence. If it were to lose it, the company would fall into a special administration regime until a new buyer was found. If the regulator, Ofwat, decides the company has breached its licence but decides not to revoke it, penalties include a fine of 10% of the company's annual turnover. Ofwat in 2024 decided Thames Water was in breach of its licence but decided to avoid forcing it into special measures and instead insisted on a turnaround plan. - Guardian Six people have been arrested as part of a £300m fraud investigation into a British social housing landlord set up to provide accommodation for rough sleepers. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) raided seven sites on Wednesday as part of fresh bribery and fraud enquiries into the past management of Home REIT, which owned 12,000 beds across dozens of properties rented out to homeless charities. - Telegraph

Asda has bowed to union pressure over a sick-pay crackdown after watering down plans for tougher disciplinary rules. The troubled supermarket has told staff it will no longer double the time it takes to reset their absence records after the new rules were deemed "far too harsh" by workers. - Telegraph

Nearly half of carbuyers interested in going electric are rethinking their plans after the government announced a per-mile charging for such cars, research from AutoTrader has revealed. Nathan Coe, the chief executive of the vehicle buying and selling platform, said the decision by Rachel Reeves to bring in a 3p per mile-travelled tax on electric vehicles (EVs) from 2028 was "incoherent and inconsistent" with government policy of promoting EVs. - The Times

A Mayfair club founded by Charles Dickens has swung to a loss of close to £4 million as it struggles with inflationary pressures and a writedown tied to its private health clinic. The Arts Club on Dover Street in central London has reported swinging from a pre-tax profit of £360,540 to a loss before tax of £3.8 million as it booked an impairment charge on a loan issued to the clinic it launched in partnership with Lanserhof, an Austrian luxury wellness group. - The Times