The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has secured formal commitments from Ticketmaster – known as undertakings – to improve the information made available to fans when buying tickets for gigs.

It follows widespread criticism of the way it sold tickets for Oasis’ comeback tour. Ticketmaster did not tell fans waiting in lengthy queues that standing tickets were being sold at two different prices, and that prices would jump as soon as the cheap tickets sold out; and it also sold some ‘platinum’ tickets at almost 2.5 times the price of ‘standard’ tickets – without sufficient explanation that these offered no additional benefits over some ‘standard’ tickets in the same areas of the venue.

Ticketmaster will be required to tell fans 24 hours in advance if a tiered pricing system is being used, as well as provide more information about ticket prices during online queues, helping fans anticipate how much they might have to pay. It must also not use any misleading ticket labels.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A listed investment trust has revealed significant progress in its winding down of operations.

Digital 9 Infrastructure plc has invested in data centres, subsea fibre and wireless network assets since IPO in March 2021. It said in January 2024 that it was to wind down operations following the conclusion of a strategic review.

It has now disposed of all but two of its businesses and paid off its revolving credit facility.

A new National Commission will help accelerate safe access to AI in healthcare and across the NHS by advising on a new regulatory rulebook, set to be published next year.

With expertise from global AI leaders, clinicians and regulators, the Government says the Commission will immediately review tech that’s being held back by regulatory uncertainty, such as AI assistants for doctors.

It follows new tech being trialled to speed up discharges and let GPs focus on patients instead of taking notes, as tech plays central part in transforming the NHS under Labour’s Plan for Change.

MindGym plc, a global provider of human capital and business improvement solutions, has appointed Nick Stone as interim CFO to cover the forthcoming maternity leave of Emily Fyffe, with effect from October 2025.

Stone has held senior finance roles at AIM and main market companies including as CFO at Braemar Plc (2019-2023), group finance director at Hornby plc (2013-2016) and operations and finance director at KBC Advanced Technologies PLC (2001-2012).

He will not be appointed as a director or join the board of the company. Fyffe anticipates returning to a full-time role in October 2026.

The board of Smarttech247 Group PLC,  a provider of AI-enhanced cybersecurity services, is proposing a cancellation of the company’s admission to trading on London’s junior AIM market.

Headquartered in Cork, Ireland, the firm has offices in several global locations including London. It provides automated managed detection and response for a portfolio of international clients.

The firm also reported revenue ahead of market guidance for the year to 31st July 2025, adding: “Recurring revenue for FY2025 represents approximately 74% of total unaudited revenues for the year compared to 61% for FY2024.”

Renalytix plc raised £7m from its recent share placing, subscription and retail offer as it seeks to expand its product into the US market.

The precision medicine diagnostics company is behind kidneyintelX.dkd, which claims to be the only FDA-approved and Medicare-reimbursed prognostic test to support early-stage risk assessment in chronic kidney disease.

Zilch, which claims to be the UK’s fastest growing FinTech, has appointed Boriana Tchobanova as chief operating officer.

Tchobanova joins from American Express Global Business Travel, where she served as chief transformation officer, leading the business’ post-COVID recovery and M&A activity – and paving the way for its multiple billion-dollar IPO in 2022.

Prior to this, she spent almost 15 years with American Express across multiple senior roles in strategy, transformation and operations, including as COO of the company’s digital business.

Zilch doubled revenues to £110 million for the year ending March 2025, marking a fourth straight year of 100% growth, with gross profit surging 143%.

The latest hire follows the addition of BlackRock director Mark Wilson to the board as a non-executive director.

The Motor and Allied Trades Benevolent Fund (Ben) is offering bespoke support to the thousands of people affected by the ongoing cyber attack at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).

Since 1st September, JLR has experienced a cyber attack that has shut down production at its three manufacturing sites in the UK.

The attack is hitting Merseyside hard, with production at the Halewood site disrupted and workers facing uncertainty over shifts and schedules.

Encyclis and the UK Government’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) have reached a landmark agreement on the commercial framework to deliver the UK’s first full-scale carbon capture plant for Energy-from-Waste, in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.

The confirmation of Government support for the Protos carbon capture and storage (CCS) project is described as a breakthrough for UK industrial carbon capture deployment and will advance the North West’s economic growth in pursuit of net zero.

The plant is on track to be operational by mid-2029 and will capture around 370,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year from Encyclis’ adjoining Protos Energy Recovery Facility (ERF), which provides an essential public service by safely and sustainably converting non-recyclable waste into baseload electricity, heat and other reusable resources.

FinTech Pleo has launched a new embedded finance solution.

Its says Pleo Embedded allows businesses managing large networks of SME customers to offer their customers smart company cards, automated expenses, accounts payables and real-time cash management suite as a fully white-labelled or co-branded solution.

It marks Pleo’s first move into embedded finance.

Midlands-based HealthTech Rem3dy Health has secured a £500,000 SAFE investment from Future Planet Capital Regional, part of a larger £9 million raise including investors such as Suntory, ADM and UPSA.

The funding will be used to expand manufacturing capacity, build new production facilities and support market growth in key regions including the US and Asia.

Rem3dy Health produces personalised nutrient gummies through its Nourished brand, using patented 3D printing technology to create bespoke seven-layer ‘stacks’ from natural, food-derived ingredients. To date, the firm has raised £19m.

London-based MedTech DaltonTx has exited stealth with the completion of a £4 million seed funding round to develop its adaptive, AI-enabled drug discovery platforms.

The funding will be used to build and scale the technology, which integrates directly into pharma, MedTech and CRO workflows to accelerate the development of small molecules and biologics.

The platform combines predictive modelling with reasoning engines that continuously learn from experiments, giving scientists real-time AI-enabled insights.

The seed round was led by redalpine, IQ Capital Partners and Seedcamp, with support from Oxford University Innovation.

Driving training provider RED Driver Training has secured a £13 million loan from NatWest to expand its operations in the North East and enhance its retail and B2B offerings. 

The funding will support recruitment of driving instructors, optimise the use of technology and advance the development of the ‘Learn to Drive with RED’ app to improve blended learning for new drivers. 

The Billingham-based firm’s nationwide network includes over 2,000 instructors and a corporate training division offering fleet, health and safety, and compliance courses.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Learnd SE has agreed to sell a majority stake in its UK operating subsidiary, Learnd Ltd, in a management buyout (MBO), valuing the business at £42.4 million.

The Frankfurt-listed company will sell 50.5% of Learnd Ltd to Learnd Arrow Limited, a firm controlled by former management board members John Clifford and Simon Wood.

Its Manchester-based arm operates the company’s core business in smart building technologies, delivering energy management services to cut costs and lower carbon emissions in commercial buildings

The deal will see Learnd SE receive around £9.2m from the share purchase alongside an additional £9.5m through the settlement of intra-group loans.

The transaction is subject to UK National Security and Investment Act clearance, expected by early October 2025.

Author: Patrick Killeen

EMV Capital’s subsidiary Moirai Acquisitions has bought key assets from Destiny Pharma, the AIM-listed MedTech which went into liquidation this summer.

The acquisition, which is centred on Destiny’s antimicrobial XF platform, covers trading its name, website, intellectual property, stock and contracts linked to its lead compound XF-73 and related compounds.

XF-73 is designed to prevent post-surgical site infections by killing bacteria through a rapid mechanism that reduces the likelihood of resistance – an advantage over conventional antibiotics.

Moirai will pay £475,000 upfront in cash, plus up to £2 million in deferred payments tied to future milestones.

These include £600,000 on the start of a Phase 3 clinical trial in the US, £900,000 upon FDA approval for XF-73, and up to £500,000 linked to a potential milestone payment under an existing commercial agreement with a Hong Kong-based pharmaceutical investor.

Author: Chris Maguire

The campaign for Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to replace Keir Starmer as Prime Minister is gathering momentum.

In an interview with The Telegraph, he admitted that several Labour MPs had privately urged him to challenge under-fire PM Starmer.

Should he proceed with a third push for leadership of the Labour Party, the ex-MP for Leigh and former New Labour Cabinet Minister would have to resign as GM mayor then contest and win a parliamentary byelection for a Commons seat.

There’s been  growing speculation that he could replace Andrew Gwynne as MP for Gorton and Denton – should the seat become vacant.

Burnham told the  New Statesman that wholesale change was needed to see off an existential threat to the party.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a column suggesting Starmer needed Burnham’s help to transform Labour’s fortunes  – but now it looks like Burnham’s role would be more of a successor.

Author: Patrick Killeen

AI hyperscaler Nscale has raised $1.1 billion (£820 million) in Series B financing, marking the largest round of its kind in European history.

The round was led by Aker ASA, with existing backer Sandton Capital joined by Blue Owl Managed Funds, Dell, Fidelity, G Squared, Nokia, NVIDIA, Point72 and T.Capital.

Headquartered in London, the firm operates globally as an AI-native infrastructure platform. 

Its vertically integrated model spans compute, networking, storage, managed software and AI services, delivered through a mix of owned and colocated data centres.

The funding will be used to deploy large-scale AI infrastructure across Europe, North America and the Middle East, as well as accelerate the rollout of its ‘AI factory’ data centres in projects such as Stargate UK and Stargate Norway. 

It will also expand its vertically integrated AI cloud platform, grow its engineering and operations teams, and strengthen delivery for enterprise and government customers worldwide.

Rochdale-based Zen Internet has partnered with MS3 Networks to bring full fibre connectivity to 212,500 properties across Hull, North Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire.

The network will be available to residential and business customers, as well as through Zen’s channel platform, The Fibre Hub.

The partnership aims to introduce competition in areas that have historically been dominated by a single provider, offering speeds from 100 Mbps up to gigabit.

Growth capital investor BGF has appointed Tracy Bownes as head of value creation.

Bownes joins from private equity firm LDC, where she was a partner, and brings over 25 years’ experience in M&A and commercial leadership, including senior roles at Lumon, Moneycorp and the RBS Special Opportunities Fund.

She will lead the London-based company’s 10-strong value creation team, which supports portfolio companies with tailored growth strategies.

ClearVC has acquired VideoCentric, combining two UK players in audio-visual and unified communications.

ClearVC, based in Manchester, provides video conferencing, workplace technology and AV systems, while Reading-headquartered VideoCentric focuses on AV integration, equipment hire and support.

The deal expands the Manchester-based firm’s footprint in the South of England and adds a new showroom in Edinburgh, which will act as a Scottish base for demonstrations and training.