Leeds United have appointed local PR and events agency Pink Gorilla Hairy Lemon (PGHL) to lead media and influencer activity for the launch of its new hospitality suites at Elland Road.

The partnership will see PGHL manage communications for the club’s premium matchday and corporate spaces, which include the LUFC 1919 Suite, The Gary Speed Suite, Peter Lorimer Steakhouse and The Hisense Leeds Lounge.

Each space has been designed to elevate the Premier League club’s hospitality offering for both fans and corporate guests, with it looking to enhance its off-pitch experience alongside its on-field success.

PGHL will deliver a campaign aimed at strengthening the club’s premium brand and expanding its appeal among supporters and businesses.

The agency, also based in Leeds, is celebrating new wins with Federal Café and Asda as well.

London-based HealthTech Cosi Care has secured a $1 million investment after being named one of five winners in the global 43North startup competition in New York. 

Founded by Lauren Bell from Swansea, the company created the world’s first safe scratching medical devices to deliver instant itch relief and soothe painful skin conditions such as eczema. 

The win will fund Cosi Care’s expansion into the US market, with Bell saying the recognition proves “how universal our solution is –  everyone knows someone with itchy skin.” 

The company, which has already helped more than 50,000 UK customers and generated over £3 million in revenue, also won the People’s Choice Award, adding another $25,000 to its prize.

Risers:

Ceres Power Holdings – +22.32%

Trainline – +5.19%

Bluefield Solar Income Fund – +4.99%

International Workplace Group – +3.54%

Clarkson – +3.16%

Fallers:

TP ICAP Group – -6.68%

Playtech – -4.85%

Allianz Technology Trust – -3.17%

Fresnillo – -3.13%

Avon Technologies – -2.50%

The West of England has signed a landmark transatlantic technology deal with the US to boost growth and investment in the quantum sector.

The agreement – between the West of England Combined Authority (WECA), the University of Bristol and Elevate Quantum, America’s largest regional quantum consortium – marks the first partnership of its kind in the UK.

The collaboration is set to align academic research with industry needs, integrate supply chains and support the scale-up of quantum businesses, with the aim of creating new jobs across both the West Country and the Mountain West region of the US, which includes Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming.

The deal builds on growing UK–US tech cooperation, following September’s Tech Prosperity Deal that pledged £280 billion in new investment, including NVIDIA’s partnership on the £225m Isambard-AI supercomputer with the University of Bristol and HPE.

Delegates from the US quantum sector visited Bristol this week to sign the agreement and tour the Quantum Technologies Innovation Centre (QTIC) – a £35 million WECA-backed initiative supporting early-stage entrepreneurs.

Knowledge Quarter Liverpool has launched KQ CLICK, a new purpose-built business support network.

The free innovation services programme offers support to organisations of all sizes, from startups to SMEs and large firms, that are based in or considering locating in the KQ Liverpool innovation district.

The programme features a calendar of events to support knowledge exchange and foster connections between businesses. These include breakfast socials, drop-in sessions, In The Know events, and masterclasses hosted by experts in fields such as legal, banking, accountancy, branding, IP and insurance.

Support is delivered by a cohort of industry professionals and expert advisors, coordinated by a central team at KQ Liverpool. Partners Barclays Eagle Labs, DTM Legal, Konsileo, Marks & Clerk, RSM UK and Typocom will each have a hotdesk space at CENTRAL TECH, Sciontec’s new innovation centre in KQ Liverpool.

Any businesses wishing to express an interest in taking part in the KQ CLICK Programme should contact hello@kqlivepool.co.uk.

ABB has renewed its 18-year partnership with Tata Consultancy Services to modernise the global electrical engineering firm’s global hosting operations and accelerate digital transformation.

At the core of this collaboration is ABB’s ‘Future Hosting Model’, a modular, AI-driven infrastructure built by TCS to streamline systems, strengthen resilience, and enable safer security operations through its Zero Ops framework.

Sci-Tech Daresbury could see the creation of hundreds of new jobs under fresh expansion plans being considered by the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

Up to £7.5m of Life Sciences Innovation Zone funding is being sought to support the development of a new 23,000 sq. ft. office and innovation building, forming part of Project Violet Phase 2.

Phase 2 builds on the success of the first stage, completed in 2022 and now fully occupied, and also includes a 60,000 sq. ft. laboratory-enabled facility already approved to house around 150 high-skilled roles.

Together, the two new buildings are expected to create approximately 250 well-paid jobs and attract both existing and new science and tech tenants to the region’s only national science and innovation campus.

If funding is approved, construction will begin next summer.

New research has revealed a worrying gap between cybersecurity policies and real-world practice in the UK’s technology sector. 

According to the Cyber Culture Clash report from compliance training provider Skillcast, tech and SaaS companies rank among the best for cybersecurity policies but the worst for operational resilience. 

The study found only 36% alignment between what firms say and what they do – the widest gap of any industry.

While tech companies lead the way in ISO 27001 adoption, policy transparency and dedicated cybersecurity staff, the report found 69% experienced a cyberattack in the past year – more than any other sector. 

Phishing click rates hit 40%, whilst ICO-reported incidents have surged 40% in two years.

A new Fresh Start Guide has been launched by Start Up Loans, in collaboration with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HMRC, to help unemployed people explore self-employment as a path back into work. 

The guide offers step-by-step advice on building confidence, researching business ideas, understanding finance options and managing the impact of self-employment on welfare benefits. 

Distributed through more than 600 jobcentres and 25,000 work coaches, it aims to encourage entrepreneurship among those looking for a new direction.

The London-based organisation has already provided nearly £150 million in funding to unemployed entrepreneurs and says the guide reflects a joined-up government effort to boost business creation and economic growth.

Totalmobile has gained fresh backing from Five Arrows, the alternative assets arm of Rothschild & Co, and Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG).

The investment, subject to regulatory approval, will help accelerate innovation and international expansion for the Belfast-based field service management software provider.

It has seen revenues climb to £58m in FY24, driven by the success of its Field First platform and growth across health, government and infrastructure sectors.

Vitality and Google have unveiled Vitality AI – a new global platform that combines Google Cloud’s advanced AI and data analytics with Vitality’s health datasets to improve how people understand and manage their health. 

Using Google’s Vertex AI and Gemini models, the system will look to deliver personalised insights based on over 2,800 health and lifestyle factors, guiding users on activity, sleep, screenings and wellness habits. 

The partnership aims to extend healthy life expectancy, reduce healthcare costs and enhance customer engagement.

Quickline has confirmed that CEO Sean Royce is to retire after nearly five years at the helm, marking the end of a period of major growth for the rural broadband provider.

Royce, who has led the company since its acquisition by Northleaf Capital Partners in 2021, will be replaced by Mark Bowden, who joined the business earlier this year as CFO, later becoming chief transformation officer.

He brings extensive experience in finance and leadership from senior roles at Vodafone, O2, and as CFO for giffgaff, Tesco Mobile and Checkatrade.

The Hull-based company has also announced the promotion of Martin Cook to CFO, who joined nearly four years ago and was previously director of strategic finance.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A High Court ruling largely in favour of Stability AI over Getty Images will “frustrate many in the creative industries”, according to a legal expert.

Getty had accused Stability AI – a London GenAI firm which counts Avatar director James Cameron among several leading names on its board – of infringing its copyright by using 12 million of its images to train the Stable Diffusion AI model. 

This summer Getty withdrew its primary copyright and database infringement claims as it was unable to prove that training took place in the UK. The secondary, narrower claim amounted to an accusation that Stability had brought images trained on unlicensed works into the UK – akin to ‘importing infringing copies’. 

Justice Joanna Smith disagreed, stating: “An AI model such as Stable Diffusion which does not store or reproduce any copyright works – and has never done so – is not an ‘infringing copy’.”

An accompanying trademark claim alleged that the AI model sometimes generated images with Getty’s watermarks on them. Getty partially succeeded with that claim.

Justice Smith said striking a balance between the creative industries’ interests and the AI industry was “of very real societal importance”. 

 

Marks & Spencer’s profits have plunged as the full impact of the widely-reportedly cyber attack that it suffered earlier in the year has been revealed.

The company reported underlying profits of £184.1 million for the six months to the 27th September, less than half the £413.1m earned in the same period last year.

The disruption, which forced the retailer to suspend online clothing and homeware sales for more than six weeks, hit its non-food operations particularly hard, leaving the clothing and homeware division struggling to recover.

European and transatlantic investor Hg has appointed Steven Batchelor and Jean-Baptiste (JB) Brian as managing partners and co-CEOs.

The pair will take on responsibility for the day-to-day running of the London-based firm, which has become one of the largest investors in software and workplace automation technology.

The move marks the next stage in the company’s leadership rotation model and is designed to support it described as the next phase of its development.

Matthew Brockman and Justin von Simson, who have led the business in the same roles since 2017, will both remain in full-time leadership positions.

Trainline plc has reported growth across all metrics for the six months ended 31st August 2025.

Group net ticket sales were up 8% year on year to £3.2 billion, while revenue grew 2% to £235m, adjusted EBITDA rose 14% to £93m and operating profit jumped 38% to £68m.

Europe’s most downloaded rail app now has a total active customer base of 27m people.

The board of Built Cybernetics, a smart buildings group, has disposed of its subsidiary Anders + Kern U.K. Limited to the latter’s managing director Barrie Meehan for a nominal sum.

A+K has been significantly loss-making.

In the year ended 30th September 2024, A+K recorded a total comprehensive loss of £342,000 and concluded that year with a net liability position of £45,000. The business made further losses in the year following.

Water Intelligence plc has reported a rise in revenue, profits and EBITDA.

The provider of tech-enabled preventive maintenance solutions for water and wastewater infrastructure said group revenue increased by 9.2% to $69.3 million in the nine-month period ended 30th September.

Group Statutory EBITDA rose by 14% to $12.7m while statutory profit before tax grew by 4% to $6.5m.

The CFO of Quantum Base Holdings plc has stepped down.

David Broadbent, who saw the company through its IPO and first annual report as an AIM-quoted company, will also step down from the board.

Anthony Clayden, an experienced financial leader with a 26-year career spanning numerous executive and advisory positions, primarily in technology and life sciences, has taken the role of interim head of finance while the company initiates the process to find a permanent CFO.

Quantum Base is a quantum science company focused on creating a new global standard in authentication.

Trading in Falconedge plc has now commenced on the Aquis Growth Market Access Segment.

The company, a provider of turnkey advisory solutions for asset and fund managers founded last year, has raised £1.44m at IPO, following a pre-IPO round of approximately £1m.

It has a market capitalisation of approximately £10.5m.