The energy supplier Ovo is plotting the sale of a stake in its software arm at a ‘unicorn’ valuation as part of efforts to strengthen the balance sheet of Britain’s fourth-largest residential gas and electricity group.

Sky News has learnt that Ovo, which has just under 4m retail customers, has appointed Arma Partners, the investment bank, to explore options for Kaluza.

It replicates a move by larger rival Octopus Energy – revealed by Sky News – to hire advisers to work on a demerger of its Kraken software arm at a potential valuation of well over $10bn (£7.4bn).

Kaluza, which describes itself as an energy intelligence platform and this week announced a licensing partnership with the French-based energy group Engie, is 80%-owned by Ovo.

The remaining 20% is owned by AGL, an Australian energy company which bought a stake last year in a deal valuing Kaluza at $500m (£395m).

Industry sources said that Ovo was likely to seek a valuation for Kaluza in any new transaction of well over $1bn, although they added that there were questions about the software business’s path to sustainable profitability and its pipeline of new customers.

One analyst suggested that Kaluza’s majority-owner could pitch a valuation for Kaluza – run by chief executive Melissa Gander – of as much as $2.5bn based on annual recurring revenue (ARR).

Kaluza recently bought Beige Technologies, an Australian energy software specialist, in order to strengthen its presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

The prospective Kaluza stake sale comes amid a wider effort by Ovo to bolster its financial position.

Rothschild, the investment bank, has been orchestrating talks with potential investors about a plan to inject in the region of £300m into the company.

At one point, this is understood to have included discussions with Iberdrola, the owner of rival supplier Scottish Power.

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, may also have expressed an interest in examining a deal, according to banking sources.

A deal with another third party is said to be likely before the end of the year.

On Friday, Sky News revealed that the company – like Octopus Energy – had so far failed to meet targets imposed as part of a new capital adequacy regime overseen by Ofgem, the industry regulator.

A spokesperson for Ovo said it had “taken proactive measures to align with Ofgem’s new capital rules, working constructively to meet the requirements.”

Ovo recently named Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, the former boss of Virgin Money, as the independent chair of its retail arm.

Founded by Stephen Fitzpatrick, the entrepreneur who now owns London’s Kensington Roof Gardens, Ovo’s existing shareholders include the private equity firm Mayfair Equity Partners, Morgan Stanley Investment Management and Mitsubishi Corporation, the Japanese conglomerate.

Under Mr Fitzpatrick, who launched Ovo in 2009, the company positioned itself as a challenger brand offering superior service to the industry’s established players.

Ovo’s transformational moment came in 2020, when it bought the retail supply arm of SSE, transforming it overnight into one of Britain’s leading energy companies.

Its growth has not been without difficulties, however, particularly in relation to its challenged relationship with Ofgem and a torrent of customer complaints about overcharging.

The group is now run by David Buttress, who was briefly Boris Johnson’s cost-of-living tsar after leaving the top job at Just Eat, as its chief executive.

Kaluza declined to comment on the appointment of Arma Partners.

Harrods has warned its e-commerce customers that their personal data may have been taken in an IT systems breach.

Information like customers’ names and contact details was taken after one of Harrods’ third-party provider systems was compromised, the luxury London department store said.

Affected customers have been informed and reassured that the impacted data is “limited to basic personal identifiers”, a spokesperson said.

Account passwords or payment details were not affected in the breach.

“The third party has confirmed this is an isolated incident which has been contained, and we are working closely with them to ensure that all appropriate actions are being taken. We have notified all relevant authorities,” Harrods added.

“No Harrods system has been compromised and it is important to note that the data was taken from a third-party provider.”

This comes four months after the department store restricted internet access as a precautionary measure due to “attempts to gain unauthorised access” to some of its systems.

Friday’s breach is “unconnected” to the attempts in May, the spokesman said.

Two men aged 19, a 17-year-old boy and a 20-year-old woman were arrested in July over their suspected involvement in cyber attacks on Harrods, Marks & Spencer, and the Co-op.

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They were arrested on suspicion of blackmail, money laundering, offences linked ot the Computer Misuse Act, and participating in the activities of an organised crime group, the National Crime Agency said.

All four have been bailed pending further inquiries.

It comes as hackers claim to have stolen pictures, names and addresses of thousands of children in a cyber attack on a nursery chain in London.

The group, calling itself Radiant, has released personal information about children and staff at the Kido nursery chain on the dark web and demanded a ransom from the company.

Radiant told Sky News on Friday it intends to imminently release the profiles of more children and employees.

Small firms reliant on the production-halted British car maker Jaguar Land Rover, “may have at best a week of cashflow left to support themselves” with “urgent” action needed to support businesses.

Liam Byrne, the head of the influential Business and Trade Committee of MPs, wrote to Chancellor Rachel Reeves with the warning after meeting with the car maker’s suppliers.

“Larger firms, we heard, may begin to seriously struggle within a fortnight – and many are simply unclear how they will pay payroll costs at the end of October,” he said

“In short, many firms have merely “weeks left” before the financial impact on them becomes untenable and causes critical damage to key elements of the automotive supply chain.”

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Since 31 August, production has been halted across the car-making supply chain, with staff off work as a result of the attack.

More than 33,000 people work directly for JLR in the UK, many of them on assembly lines in the West Midlands, the largest of which is in Solihull, and a plant at Halewood on Merseyside.

An estimated 200,000 more are employed by several hundred companies in the supply chain, who have faced business interruption with their largest client out of action.

Calls for government financial support had been growing, but Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday afternoon said, “I haven’t got an outcome here to give to you today”.

A partial restart

It comes as JLR announced some of its IT systems are back online after being hit by a cyber attack late last month though production is still not expected to start again until 1 October at the earliest.

“The foundational work of our recovery programme is firmly underway,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.

As part of the partial restart, supplier payments can begin again.

“We have significantly increased IT processing capacity for invoicing,” the statement said. “We are now working to clear the backlog of payments to our suppliers as quickly as we can.”

The supply of parts to customers across the world can also now recommence.

After a workaround was reached on Tuesday to allow cars to move to buyers without the usual online registration, the financial system to process wholesale vehicles is back online.

“We are able to sell and register vehicles for our clients faster, delivering important cash flow”, the company said.

“Our focus remains on supporting our customers, suppliers, colleagues and our retailers. We fully recognise this is a difficult time for all connected with JLR and we thank everyone for their continued support and patience.”