Creator management company Arcade, best known for representing YouTube supergroup The Sidemen, has appointed Pete Cory as chairman following investment from Lumina Media.

Cory previously spent 18 years at Google, most recently as managing director for YouTube’s EMEA partner development, and has over 35 years’ experience across media, tech and advertising.

He will work with Arcade co-founders Jordan Schwarzenberger and Sam Uwins to expand the firm’s brand partnerships and creator-first strategy, helping advertisers better connect with Gen Z audiences.

Allica Bank has swooped to acquire Kriya, the SME lending FinTech specialising in SME working capital and embedded finance.

The SME credit and payments firm was formerly known as MarketInvoice and MarketFinance. The acquisition will see Allica move into the embedded payments market for the first time.

Since first opening its doors to lending in 2020, Allica’s impressive growth means its total outstanding lending to SMEs has now reached £3.5 billion.

With the Kriya acquisition, Allica is targeting advancing an initial £1 billion of working capital finance to SMEs over the next three years. 

Circular economy firm refurbed has closed its latest funding round at £44 million as it prepares to launch in the UK.

The Vienna-founded company is Europe’s fastest-growing marketplace for refurbished electronics, household and sports products.

The round was led by Alex Zubillaga, investor in Spotify, Fever and Wallapop, together with Orilla, investment platform of the Riberas family – known for backing leading European marketplaces such as Vinted, Playtomic and Cabify, with strong participation from existing shareholders Evli Growth Partners, Bonsai, Almaz, C4 Ventures, and Speedinvest. 

Social entertainment group LBG Media, the company behind the LADbible network, has reported a 10% increase in revenue to £92.2 million for its financial year, with profits also edging higher. 

The Manchester-based firm said performance was in line with expectations, supported by growth across its direct advertising and branded content business.

Adjusted EBITDA rose to £25m, up from £24.5m the previous year, while net cash increased to £30.1m from £27.2m. 

The Government is funding 16 cutting-edge technology projects which it says will bring groundbreaking innovations to market more quickly.

£8.9 million funding will be delivered through the Regulatory Innovation Office to support projects including drones delivering medical supplies in the Scottish islands; AI tools that are helping get new medicines safely approved for use sooner; an AI smartphone app helping London Fire Brigade to risk-assess homes and businesses; and street-sweeping robots in Milton Keynes.

 

The cyber attack which targeted Jaguar Land Rover cost the UK economy almost £2 billion, according to an independent report.

The report published by independent non-profit the Cyber Monitoring Centre said more than 5,000 organisations were affected and that further losses could accrue if JLR – owned by India’s Tata Motors – was unable to return to pre-hack levels quickly.

Last month the Government agreed to support JLR’s suppliers with a £1.5bn loan after the company had to shut down its UK operations due to the incident, which occurred at the end of August.

Nearly a thousand jobs are to be created in a major boost to communities across the UK after over 10 billion in investments were announced at today’s first Regional Investment Summit.

Over £10 billion in investment commitments were announced at the Regional Investment Summit in Birmingham yesterday.

Almost 1,000 high-quality jobs are to be created in the UK’s regions and nations, the Government claimed, with major investments in the key sectors of life sciences, AI and innovation.

They include £200m from Leeds United to redevelop its Elland Road ground and a Crown Estate acquisition in Oxfordshire for increased laboratory and manufacturing space that could boost UK GDP by £2.5bn.

There was a £300m commitment from Woven Capital, Toyota’s growth-stage investment arm, to build its European growth capital team in the UK, while Hines announced a £400m investment to support the £4bn Birmingham Knowledge Quarter, a centrepiece of the West Midlands Investment Zone.

The Government is also announcing two life sciences investments which it said would ‘unlock over £30m’. Biocomposites will expand its Keele facility which produce medical products which allow antibiotics to be administered directly into bone and soft tissue, while Sterling Pharmaceuticals will build a 60,000 sq ft centre in Birmingham.

Atos is announcing £10m for AI centres.

CyanConnode Holdings plc saw turnover rise 31% to £7.4 million in its latest half-year – despite revenues from a new £70m contract being yet to commence.

The global provider of IoT communication and smart metering solutions said its DigiSmart subsidiary in India had secured a ‘landmark’ first contract as an advanced metering infrastructure service provider with the Government of Goa.

The April deal materially strengthened the group’s contracted order book, which remains robust at approximately £157m.

Spirax Group plc has appointed a new non-executive director in Andrew Kemp.

The thermal energy management and fluid technology solutions group said Kevin Thompson will step down from the board next year.

Kemp holds board roles at The Berkeley Group Holdings plc and Irwin Mitchell Holdings. He is also a governor of Birkbeck University of London.

Oxford BioDynamics Plc has conditionally raised £7 million through a share placing and new subscriptions.

The precision clinical diagnostics company is bringing specific and sensitive tests to the practice of medicine through its EpiSwitch 3D genomics platform.

 

Liverpool-based contracting software company Videosign has appointed Jack O’Sullivan as its new business development manager as it continues to expand in the UK and beyond.

O’Sullivan, who previously worked in sales and business development roles across the legal and financial sectors, will focus on growing the firm’s customer base and helping professionals adopt its secure, AI-powered contract signing platform.

Videosign was founded in 2019 and enables remote document signing and identity verification through video conferencing.

It recently launched a major software update introducing new tools such as the Videosign Contract Creator and AI Assistant.

Author: Curtis Holmes, executive vice president, global payroll, Vistra

The outage is a powerful reminder of payroll’s role as a business-critical function that keeps organisations running.

When systems go down, HR and finance teams lose access to the very tools they depend on to process pay, manage employee records, and meet tax obligations.

When pay is interrupted, even temporarily, the consequences are immediate, from financial stress for employees to operational disruption for employers.

Modern payroll systems rely on cloud platforms for accuracy, compliance and speed, and this interdependence highlights the importance of robust systems and contingency plans that ensure employees are paid accurately and on time, regardless of external events.

Pizza Hut UK’s dine-in arm has fallen into administration, placing more than 1,200 jobs at risk and confirming the closure of 68 restaurants across the country.

However, the company’s online ordering, delivery and takeaway operations are expected to continue trading, offering a potential lifeline through its digital infrastructure.

The franchisee behind the UK fast-food giant, DC London Pie Limited, appointed administrators from FTI this week after what it described as challenging trading conditions.

Around 64 restaurants will continue to operate under new ownership through a deal backed by parent company Yum! Brands, which also owns KFC and Taco Bell. This agreement will see 1,276 jobs saved.

London-based MedTech CoMind has raised $102.5 million (£76.7m) to advance its non-invasive brain monitoring technology aimed at transforming care for critically ill patients.

The round was led by Plural, the investment firm founded by tech entrepreneurs including Taavet Hinrikus and Ian Hogarth, with participation from Angelini Ventures, LocalGlobe, Octopus Ventures, Crane, Backed VC and Entrepreneurs First.

The funding will be used to complete clinical trials, scale manufacturing and secure regulatory approval for its first product, CoMind One.

Durham-based eCommerce agency Visualsoft has appointed Lucy Dixon as its new CFO as the company continues to expand its Shopify offering and strengthen its financial foundations for growth.

Dixon joined the business six years ago from KPMG, where she trained and qualified as a chartered accountant before moving into industry.

During her time at Visualsoft, she has overseen the evolution of the company’s finance function, introducing new systems, improving profitability visibility and embedding data-led decision-making across the business.

In her new role, she will be responsible for driving financial strategy, operational efficiency and long-term value creation as Visualsoft focuses on scaling its Shopify partnerships and deepening relationships with larger enterprise clients.

Risers:

B&M European Value Retail S.A. – +3.61%

W.A.G Payment Solutions – +3.10%

Melrose Industries – +2.96%

Segro – +2.94%

AO World PLC – +2.81%

Fallers:

Playtech – -28.20%

Hochschild Mining – -9.38%

Fresnillo – -5.98%

Bluefield Solar Income Fund – -5.64%

Endeavour Mining PLC – -4.12%

AIM-listed spend analytics specialist Rosslyn expects to report revenue of £3 million for the year, up slightly from £2.9m a year earlier.

The London-based company anticipates a narrower adjusted EBITDA loss of £2m, compared with £2.5m in FY2024.

A £300,000 portion of development work for a major new client has been deferred and will now be recognised across FY2026 and FY2027, which the business has said will improve performance in those years.

The board said trading in the first quarter of FY2026 was in line with expectations, but full-year performance will depend on the timing of new contract wins and the rollout of work with its major client.

Shawbrook Group has set the price range for its London IPO at 350-390p per share, valuing the specialist bank at between £1.8-£2 billion.

The company plans to raise around £50 million through the issue of up to 14.3m new shares, while its current owner, Marlin Bidco, will sell up to 81.1m existing shares.

Admission to the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market is expected on 4th November 2025, with the final offer price to be announced on 30th October.

Rio and Anton Ferdinand have launched a new partnership between their organisation, The Ferdinand Collective, and FinTech firm Intuit QuickBooks.

The initiative is aimed at helping young footballers build financial awareness alongside their development on the pitch.

It brings financial literacy into youth football pathways, teaching players and their families practical skills around money management, business basics and planning for life after sport.

It follows warnings from the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), which says 10-20% of former Premier League players face serious financial trouble within five years of retiring.

AB Dynamics has appointed Sarah Matthews-DeMers as its next CEO.

Matthews-DeMers, who currently serves as CFO, succeeds James Routh, who will remain with the business until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition.

Routh will then leave to lead fellow listed firm Victrex at the start of 2026.

The new CEO is said to have played a key role in transforming the automotive testing and simulation group over the past six years.

A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, she previously held senior finance and strategy roles at Avon Rubber, Rotork and Carclo, following 14 years at PwC.