Tech-enabled self-pay healthcare group Electiva has made several strategic hires at the end of its first year of trading.

In 12 months, Electiva has rapidly expanded its family of hospitals and specialist brands. It claims to already deliver more self-pay procedures by volume than any other provider in the UK.

The group’s brands include Transform Medical Services – cosmetic, weight loss, orthopaedics and gynaecology; La Belle Forme – advanced aesthetic medicine and plastic surgery; and Electiva Hospitals – purpose-built surgical centres.

Brian Welsh has been appointed as group CEO while Lee McKinnon has been appointed MD of Transform Medical Services and Laura McLaughlin is now MD of Electiva Hospitals Glasgow.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The UK public markets have remained steady today following Wednesday’s Budget.

The FTSE 100 list of the most valuable publicly-owned companies is up slightly while the FTSE 250 is more or less where it was at the start of the day.

There are few standout risers, but the share prices of notable tech firms Paypoint (2.52%), Oxford Nanopore (2.45%), AO World (1.69%) and Rightmove (1.17%) are all up.

Investors Foresight (1.70%) and Molten Ventures (1.29%) are also up, alongside media giant Future (1.36%).

Raspberry Pi – the low-cost miniature computers firm which floated in June 2024 at a valuation of £542m – is down (-1.87%). It remains 7.5% up over five days, despite having lost more than 50% of its value in the year to date. The firm now has a market cap of £631m.

 

Tata Consultancy Services has extended its long-standing partnership with international retailer Aldi South.

TCS will manage its infrastructure and application services and improve stability and IT operations efficiency across the UK and Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Hungary, Italy, the United States and Australia.

The deployment of its cloud solution will advance Aldi’s digital advancement by supporting automation, stability and faster time to market. 

Belfast AI firm Whitespace has raised £10 million in Series A funding.

The round brings in new institutional investment from Beach Equity and White Cloud, together with earlier backing secured during its pre-Series-A phase. 

Whitespace will look to scale strategically to meet growing demand across defence, national security, and other high-assurance regulated sectors.

Private equity investment firm Ama Capital has appointed Dominic Miller as its latest operating partner.

Miller is the firm’s 10th appointment this year to an operating partner role and reinforces its operator-led approach to UK SME investments.

A senior business leader who has been through four rounds of successful private equity backing, Miller led 16 corporate acquisitions both in the UK and internationally during his time at buy-and-build Fishawack Health.

In 2001, Dominic co-founded Fishawack Health, a healthcare commercialisation consultancy, growing the business organically and via acquisition, into an international group with over 1,400 employees and 25 offices across North America, Europe and Asia.

He joins founding partners Miles Otway and Ed Ransome, alongside three recently appointed non-executive partners and nine other operating partners, who have held senior roles at global brands, including Accenture, Virgin Entertainment, Mubadala, Dowty, the Co-op Group, Elixirr, Genworth Financial, and the BBC.

In less than two and a half years, the University of Bristol has launched 12 social venture spinouts, each one rooted in academic insight and driven by societal purpose.

Whereas traditional university spinouts are more commonly associated with Science, Technology and Engineering, these startups originate from disciplines such as social sciences, humanities, arts for people and the economy – known collectively as SHAPE.

They include Affempreneurs, which empowers young women micro-entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa with business skills, financial resources and wellbeing support; Circular Agriculture Hub, which connects surplus produce from farmers to communities in need, thereby reducing waste and food insecurity; and Good Grief Festival, which opens up conversations around death and bereavement through creative practices to provide support and community to those who need it most.

Author: Chris Maguire

There have been plenty of hires and promotions in the North West in recent weeks.

Sarah Smith is set to become Warrington Borough Council’s new chief executive. She’s currently executive director of health and social care at Knowsley Council.

As well as celebrating becoming a mum, Chloe Fletcher has just been promoted to the role of director at Alvarez & Marsal. “My 9-5 will look a little different for the foreseeable but I  look forward to drinking hot coffee and having adult conversations with you all again next year,” she said.

Growing North West law firm CG has announced a new partnership  with Bolesworth to become their legal services partner.  Bolesworth is a historic 6,500-acre estate in the heart of Cheshire and under the leadership of managing director Nina Barbour, has evolved into a dynamic hub for enterprise, premium events, hospitality, and long-term strategic development.

Experienced Rich Graham has started a new position as head of digital experience and optimisation at The Fragrance Shop. He’s previously worked at N Brown, musicMagpie and Pharmacy2U.

Sam Saunders has started a new position as customer success director at THG Ingenuity.

Richard Hogg has joined the Manchester office of Forvis Mazars as a VAT partner. He previously spent seven years at BDO.

Author: Claire Cole, senior solicitor, Harper James

The government’s U-turn on introducing day-one unfair dismissal rights will come as a relief to many employers who were deeply concerned about the loss of flexibility in managing new hires.

Moving to a six-month qualifying period still represents a significant shift from the current two-year position, and employers will need to prepare for a much earlier exposure to unfair dismissal claims.

While the change eases immediate fears, it also creates uncertainty. We still have no clarity on how any statutory ‘initial period’ will operate in practice, what procedures will be required, or how probationary dismissals will be treated.

The direction of travel is clear – enhanced rights for workers much earlier in the employment relationship. Employers who prepare now will be best placed to adapt smoothly once the reforms take final shape.

The Government is abandoning plans to allow all workers to claim unfair dismissal from day one, instead proposing a six-month qualifying period.

The decision is a U-turn on a manifesto commitment and follows concerns raises among businesses that the move would dissuade firms from hiring.

The Government blamed opposition to its employment legislation in the House of Lords for the climbdown.

The move is expected to prevent delays to the legislation being passed, which will still grant workers rights to sick pay and paternity leave from day one. The changes will come into effect in April 2026.

Fuel Ventures and Concrete Ventures have co-led a £750,000 investment round into Tyten – formely Fixo – an AI company bringing automation to the $1.4 trillion global facilities management industry.

Tyten is redefining how facilities teams handle repairs and maintenance by automating help desk workflows and giving technicians step-by-step, AI-driven diagnostic and repair guidance. Its platform is already accelerating help desk processing by up to twenty times, with the first automation module saving around 40% of processing time and nine further modules currently in development.

The new investment will enable Tyten to scale its engineering team, accelerate product development, and support rapid commercial growth as it expands into international markets.

Author: Chris Maguire

There have been a flurry of North West office moves.

Leading the charge is KPMG Liverpool, which  will be moving to a new office at The Plaza in Liverpool city centre in the new year.

It marks the next chapter in the Big 4’s  long-standing commitment to the region.

Office senior partner Jennifer Lee said: “For over a century, we’ve been part of Liverpool’s business community, and this move strengthens our ability to support our clients and partners across the city region.”

Meanwhile, S&P Global has celebrated the official opening of its new office at Gary Neville’s No.1 St Michael’s in Manchester, welcoming the Minister for Investment, Lord Jason Stockwood.

Sally Moore, S&P’s chief client officer, said: “This new office underscores our long-term commitment to Manchester and its exceptional talent.

“Having seen its remarkable growth over the past decade, we firmly believe Manchester as a centre of innovation and excellence, and are proud to grow alongside it.

“We look forward to opportunities ahead for the city and S&P Global.”

Finally, Jordan Stachini’s marketing consultancy Co&Co, has moved into new offices in Manchester, with a bit of help from Joe Averill.

Counter, the consultancy arm of Northcoders, has appointed Tom Legg as its newest tech lead.

Legg has a background across various technologies including machine learning web apps, as well as experience in leading high-performing tech teams. He has previously worked at Aiimi and Sykes Holiday Cottages, where he played key roles in building and maintaining innovative digital solutions.

In his new role, he will be responsible for setting the technical direction of engineering teams deployed across client projects.

IT provider Renewtech has acquired Harrogate-based Intelligent Servers, bringing the refurbished IT specialist into its European group.

The deal lifts the Denmark-based firm’s overall business volume by around a quarter and strengthens its position in what it calls a key growth market for refurbished data centre hardware. 

Intelligent Servers was founded in 2011 by managing director Andy Hughes and is known for supplying refurbished server, storage and networking kit, with a particular focus on HPE systems as well as Dell and Cisco equipment. 

Amazing AI’s shares have been suspended on the Aquis Exchange as the FinTech ramps up its legal fight with investor commentator Tom Winnifrith and Share Prophets Ltd.

In a statement this morning, the AQSE-listed group said it has appointed Rosenblatt Law Limited as its new company legal adviser to pursue defamation proceedings against Winnifrith and Share Prophets, following its cease-and-desist letter earlier this week. 

CEO Paul Mathieson has also instructed Rosenblatt in a personal capacity to coordinate a separate legal action for damages against the same parties and associates. 

A sports nutrition company that started with bedroom packing sessions in Nottingham has landed a major partnership in professional boxing with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing.

Ten Percent Club was launched in December 2022 by Luke O’Reilly, who at the time was working full-time as an engineer while fulfilling supplement orders from home in the evenings. 

Three years on, the 38-year-old entrepreneur has secured a 12-month agreement to become the official supplement partner for the boxing giant. 

The founder of essensys plc is pondering an all-cash offer for the firm as it issues a profit warning.

The London-based software and cloud service provider for the flexible workspace industry said its FY26 results were expected to fall short of expectations.

essensys expects £19.2m in revenue for the year ending 31st July, reduced from £24.1m a year before. However it expects a profit of £1.3m, swinging from a £900,000 loss in FY24.

Microlise Group plc, a provider of transport management software to fleet operators, has seen its share price dip by over 30% since it announced on Monday that it would make redundancies after its global sales were hit.

The firm, based in Nottingham and listed on the junior AIM market, said EBITDA for 2025 will not be less than £8.3 million – well below previously reported market expectations of £12.7m.

Based on trading results for the year to date and its pipeline for the remainder of FY25, it now expects to deliver revenues of not less than £84m, compared with market expectations of £91.3m.

 

JPMorganChase has unveiled plans for a new 3 million sq ft headquarters tower at Canary Wharf that could house up to 12,000 staff, signalling a long-term commitment to London as its main UK base. The building would sit on the Riverside development and be designed by Foster + Partners, with the bank working alongside Canary Wharf Group as co-developer. 

An independent study commissioned by the New York-headquartered banking giant has estimated that the combined Riverside project and refurbishment work could add around £10 billion to the UK economy over the next six years and support more than 7,800 jobs across construction and related industries. 

JPMorganChase said its existing London operations already contribute nearly £7.5bn annually to the local economy, supporting around 38,000 jobs in the surrounding ecosystem.

 

Hybrid fitness app ROXFIT has doubled its user base since closing an £800,000 funding round in May, as demand surges for tools tailored to the fast-growing HYROX-style training scene. 

The round was led by DSW Ventures with co-investment from York Angels, alongside additional angel backing from across Europe and the US.

The Leeds-based platform has lifted downloads from 90,000 to more than 180,000 since taking on the cash, while expanding its team from two to eight people. 

 

IDHL, one of Europe’s largest digital commerce and performance agencies, has acquired London-based eCommerce consultancy, strategy and performance agency, Vervaunt.

Founded in 2017, Vervaunt has established a global reputation working with premium brands including Mulberry, APC, Paul Smith, Represent and Champion.

Following IDHL’s acquisition of The MTM Agency in February, the move supports the Leeds-based firm’s further growth ambitions across UK and US markets.