Scott Dylan handed eight-year ban ahead of prison release

Published: September 22, 2025 at 12:58 pm

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A former boss of Inc & Co has been disqualified after acting as a director of a company for two years while he was bankrupt.

Scott Dylan, 41 – now based in Dublin, and formerly based in Salford – is expected to be released from prison next week after serving half of a 22-month sentence for contempt of court after 60 companies controlled by him and his associates David Antrobus and Jack Mason were transferred to two companies in the British Virgin Islands, in breach of freezing orders Barclays Bank had obtained.

That unconnected case saw all three handed 22-month sentences in October 2024. The judge accused them of “lying prolifically” to cover up their actions; Barclays accuses the trio of “extracting” £13.7m from its bank accounts.

Now the Insolvency Service has banned Dylan from operating as a company director for eight years after it found he had acted as a director of IT consultancy SDRW Limited between July 2013 and July 2015, despite being subject to a bankruptcy order that had been in place since July 2005. 

Dylan’s disqualification begins on Friday 26th September and runs through to 2033.

Neural edge infrastructure company Latos has secured full planning approval for its first neural edge facility in Stockton-on-Tees.

The firm says that the £100 million facility will deliver ‘game-changing AI inference capabilities and absolute data sovereignty’, marking the beginning of Latos’ ambitious 40-site national rollout.

It comprises two data halls with a total area of 1,750 sq.m, is custom designed to house the latest Nvidia Blackwell GPUs and will open in early 2027.

ASDA has renewed and expanded its collaboration with Microsoft in what it claims as one of UK retail’s largest technology deals to date.

The retailer is accelerating a cloud-first strategy designed to sharpen price leadership, improve product availability and free its people to focus on higher-value work.

It is on a mission to become a cloud-first, AI-powered retailer.

Nokia and Ericsson win £2bn VodafoneThree contracts

Published: September 22, 2025 at 11:46 am

Author: Patrick Killeen

VodafoneThree has awarded contracts worth £2 billion to global communications technology leaders Ericsson and Nokia.

The news comes just three months after the £16.5bn mega-merger was complete and is the next stage in its mission to build the UK’s best mobile network.

The Scandinavian-based firms will help deliver a share of the company’s £11bn investment plan, which aims to boost the UK economy by as much as £102bn between 2025 and 2035.

The eight-year programme is set to power sectors from energy and financial services to manufacturing, security and technology in an attempt to transform the UK’s digital backbone.

Manchester-based LunaNet AI and Ring Healthcare have signed an agreement to collaborate on the integration of LunaNet’s proprietary AI technologies into Ring Healthcare’s digital health platform.

The partnership will bring together the Manchester-headquartered company’s advanced AI modules with Ring Healthcare’s established healthcare infrastructure to deliver enhanced patient monitoring, wellbeing analysis and intelligent triage support.

Under the agreement, the two businesses will jointly develop, test and deploy AI-powered healthcare solutions designed for use in hospitals, care homes, and wider healthcare networks.

Author: Dame Anne Glover, chief executive, Amadeus Capital Partners

The recently announced US/UK Tech Prosperity Deal is a welcome signal of confidence in the UK’s tech ecosystem.

The scale of investment demonstrates global confidence in the UK as a hub for innovation and growth.

This partnership will not only accelerate the development of transformative technologies such as AI, quantum computing and advanced nuclear power, but also create thousands of high-skilled jobs and new opportunities for communities across the country.

At Amadeus, we’ve long championed the UK’s potential to lead in science-driven innovation, and this deal could be a catalyst for scaling our most promising startups into global players.

However, we must ensure that this momentum translates into sustainable growth for homegrown companies.

That means doubling down on talent development, regulatory clarity and domestic capital formation, so that British innovation doesn’t just attract foreign investment, but thrives independently.

Innovation alone isn’t enough, we must fuel it with patient, risk-embracing capital and create a policy environment that supports long-term scaling.

For example, unlocking even 0.5% of the UK’s vast pension assets for venture capital could be transformative, helping our companies grow and stay rooted in the UK.

THG’s market cap tops £500m

Published: September 22, 2025 at 10:45 am

Author: Chris Maguire

Cyber expert on Heathrow incident

Published: September 22, 2025 at 9:03 am

Author: Ted Cowell, head of cybersecurity at S-RM

We’ve seen threat actors like the ones who’ve claimed responsibility for this most recent attack focus on manipulating airport security in the past, targeting helpdesks and customer service teams to bypass security measures and access internal systems. 

In this attack, it’s baggage handling as well as customer services that’s impacted.

These attacks don’t always rely on exploiting technical or software vulnerabilities to gain a foothold in victims’ IT environments – they’re often highly persuasive social engineering campaigns that weaponise publicly available information to impersonate internal staff.

The threat landscape has become increasingly fractured. S-RM’s latest report found our incident response team encountered 53 separate threat actors in 2024 – almost double the number seen in 2023. 

For organisations in this sector and beyond, identity security and helpdesk resilience are no longer optional; they’re absolutely critical.

US President Donald Trump has suggested that media tycoons Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch may be involved in a potential deal that would bring TikTok’s American operations under US ownership.

In a Fox News interview, Trump also mentioned Michael Dell, founder and chief executive of Dell Technologies, and Oracle boss Larry Ellison as other possible players in the deal.

The Greater Manchester Institute of Technology (GMIoT) has announced a new strategic partnership with the BBC.

The organisation says that the collaboration will play a vital role in shaping the region’s digital and technical talent pipeline, providing Greater Manchester’s learners and workforce with the skills needed for the future of media.

As one of the largest technical employers in the North West, with over 3,500 staff based at its MediaCityUK site in Salford, the BBC will play an essential role in the GMIoT’s mission to deliver cutting-edge higher technical education aligned to the needs of industry.

The partnership will help create new routes into creative media, engineering and digital technology roles through high-quality vocational training and degree-level apprenticeships.

£93m swoop is Elixirr’s first since joining main LSE market

Published: September 22, 2025 at 8:40 am

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Elixirr International plc has made its first acquisition since joining the main market of the London Stock Exchange.

The London-headquartered challenger consultancy has acquired TRC Advisory, a US-based consultancy specialising in growth strategy and commercial effectiveness for both public and PE-backed global businesses, in a deal which could be worth up to $125m (£93m).

Elixirr, which joined the main market in July, says the deal is its largest to date and seventh since its AIM IPO in 2020. It is the company’s fifth in the United States.

The Digital Poverty Alliance (DPA) has partnered with the newly formed Digital Inclusion Alliance (DIA), a national initiative supported by the Scottish Government to end digital exclusion across Scotland.

The DIA is being established as an independent, multi-sector organisation, with the Scottish Government participating as a member alongside other public, private and third sector partners.

As part of the DIA, the Scottish Government will be backing research into the state of digital exclusion throughout Scotland and providing guidance on the most deprived regions and the areas where charity partners can have the greatest impact.

Through the partnership, the DPA will work with the DIA to coordinate engagement with local authorities, private sector and public services, align efforts to tackle structural barriers to digital inclusion, and support joint advocacy and communications on digital inclusion.

Conflicts between businesses are taking longer and costing more to resolve, according to research conducted by Resolutiion, the AI-powered dispute resolution platform, and the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS).

In a joint survey of procurement and supply chain professionals, conducted as part of the two organisations’ Breaking the Deadlock report, nearly half of respondents (48%) said the time to resolve procurement conflict and disputes is increasing.

Only 15% felt it was decreasing, with the remaining 37% seeing no change.

FinTech group Fiinu Plc has agreed a £2m convertible loan note agreement with Conister Bank.

The listed technology platform provider, behind the ‘plugin Overdraft’, raised £700,000 in fresh funds via a share placing late last week.

It recently returned to London’s junior AIM market after completing a reverse takeover.

MedTech device company Creo Medical Group plc has reported a positive set of half-year results.

Creo, based in Chepstow, Wales, enables minimally invasive surgical endoscopy for pre-cancer and cancer patients.

For the six months ended 30th June 2025, revenues were up 40% to £2.2m, while underlying operating costs reduced by 24% to £9.1m. Profit before tax was £16.1m – compared to a loss of £14.8m in the prior year – after it sold 51% of Creo Medical Europe to Micro-Tech in the period.

It has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Micro-Tech.

Vault Ventures Plc, a London-based technology developer focused on blockchain and FinTech, has appointed Lucas Perraudin to its board as a non-executive director.

Perraudin brings extensive experience in AI execution and implementation. Since 2021, through AI Partners SASU (France), he has advised and delivered AI adoption programs for major global enterprises, including global household names such as EssilorLuxottica, L’Oréal, LVMH, Perfetti Van Melle, Lenovo, and Schmidt Group. 

He has also held senior roles at Hewlett-Packard and Meta.

Argo Blockchain has secured its Nasdaq listing until January.

The crypto mining firm, listed in both London and New York, was in danger of losing its Nasdaq status due to a low share price. However it now has until 14th January 2026 to demonstrate its compliance with these ‘minimum bid requirement’ rules.

The firm recently struck a new restructuring deal with Growler Mining and secured fresh funding to help steady its finances following a previously announced recapitalisation plan, aimed at reducing debt and securing its future through a court process. CEO Justin Nolan returned to the struggling business in March.

It also announced this morning that it had promoted Charlotte Proctor-Worrall to the position of CFO, effective immediately.

Renalytix plc, a precision medicine company, intends to raise a minimum of £4m through a share placing plus £500,000 via a retail offer.

The firm has developed kidneyintelX.dkd, the only prognostic test to support early-stage risk assessment in chronic kidney disease approved by the US FDA and also reimbursed via its Medicare system.

Renalytix has signed a collaboration agreement with Tempus to make kidneyintelX.dkd prognostic blood testing more widely available for eligible patients within its US network of healthcare institutions. Eligible patients have type 2 diabetes with chronic kidney disease. It says the proceeds raised will be used to service this deal.

boohoo/Debenhams board survives shareholder vote

Published: September 19, 2025 at 4:22 pm

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The leadership team and other directors at boohoo Group plc have survived a shareholder vote despite the best efforts of Frasers Group.

Frasers, which owns around 29.7% of shares in boohoo – now rebranded operationally as Debenhams Group – voted against the re-election of founder Mahmud Kamani, chairman Tim Morris, CEO Dan Finley, CFO Phil Ellis and non-executive director John Goold.

However Debenhams said around 98% of other shareholders had voted in favour of their re-election, which saw each resolution passed by 61% or 62%.

And despite two advisory groups urging that shareholders vote against the directors remuneration report for the year ended 28th February 2025, that was also passed with 57% of shareholders voting in favour.

Frasers, however – led by Mike Ashley, Kamani’s nemesis – managed to defeat three other resolutions.

Meanwhile, Tom Handley has been appointed to the board and Alistair McGeorge is to step down as a non-exec director.

Fiinu Plc has raised £700,000 in fresh funds via a share placing.

The FinTech group behind the ‘plugin Overdraft’ returned to AIM market recently after completing a reverse takeover.