This is bad news for the British shipyard Sunseeker, which we hope will have been provided for by its brand-new owners.

This is bad news for the new owners of the British shipyard Sunseeker, the investment funds Lion Heart Capital, which also owns Cigarette Racing, and Orienta Capital Partners: last Friday, the Bornemouth court fined Sunseeker £358,000 (430,000 euros) for failing to comply with British regulations on the trade in wood and wood by-products.

To cut a long story short, the British luxury yacht builder had used teak imported from Myanmar, which is quite a task these days....

These are the very first prosecutions to be brought in Great Britain relating to the UK's timber trade regulations, which were put in place after the Brexit, replacing European texts.

Sunseeker pleaded guilty to three charges, including lack of due care in timber sourcing. The charges relate to 11 specific imports for which the company paid around £60,000.

Burmese teak is renowned the world over for its water-repellent qualities, which have made the fortune of the ruling military junta. A junta that faces international sanctions imposed by the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, which make it illegal to import any teak from Burma.

Worryingly for Sunseeker, the shipyard was aware of the regulations at the time of sourcing.

In a statement to The Independent, Sunseeker's management indicated that these were unintentional breaches, due to the post-Brexit transition between EU and UK regulations.