THE DAILY BRIEFING

POLLUTER FINED Thames Water faces a record fine of more than £1m after polluting the Thames with 308,000 gallons of raw sewage, a judge has warned.

The utility’s punishment for pumping unfiltered effluent into the water in 2013 and 2014 has to ‘get the message home’ that they have to protect the environment, Judge Francis Sheridan said.

At Aylesbury Crown Court he said the discharges in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire had destroyed local angling and fishing businesses and left farmers with sick animals. DRUGS STAKE Shares in Circassia soared after Astra-Zeneca said it would take a 14pc stake in the struggling biotech firm.

The pharma group is taking a £40.4m stake in exchange for giving Circassia the rights to sell two of its drugs in the US.

Circassia was regarded as one of the UK’s most promising biotech companies but struggled after its cat allergy drug failed clinical trials nine months ago, sending shares down 64pc. SAGE DECISION Payroll tech group Sage has appointed a former telecoms chief to its board.

Cath Keers, who was chairman of Tesco Mobile and customer director of O2, will join as a non- executive director on July 1. She is also nonexecutive director of Royal Mail Group and TalkTalk. FIRM FIGHTBACK Shamed credit card insurance firm CPP has taken the latest steps in a turnaround by snapping up Irish-based Blink for £800,000. Blink provides insurance for flight delays.

FITNESS MERGER Regulators will probe whether a deal between Virgin Active and David Lloyd Leisure will hurt competition.

The Competition and Markets Authority will investigate the deal, in which 16 gyms will change hands.