ITRS has agreed to acquire French digital experience monitoring specialist IP-Label, expanding its footprint across Europe.

The deal will add IP-Label’s AI-powered Ekara platform to ITRS’s portfolio, bringing capabilities such as synthetic transaction monitoring, real user monitoring and automated incident triage.

The company, founded in 2001, supports more than 310 enterprise customers across 25 countries.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

X has disabled its image generator for free users following controversy over its ability to generate sexualised pictures of women and children.

The move follows reports yesterday that the UK was considering a full ban of social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter and owned by Tesla and SpaceX entrepreneur Elon Musk, over the feature.

Most of the firm’s 650 million users will not now be able to use the feature. The paying subscribers who do will have their personal and financial details logged with X.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he had asked media regulator Ofcom for “all options to be on the table” and said its ability to virtually undress children was “disgraceful, disgusting and not to be tolerated”.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Healthcare software solutions provider Agilio Software has acquired Runcorn-based Patient Plan Direct (PPD), a specialist dental membership plan provider.

The acquisition brings together Agilio’s dental compliance, workforce and marketing software with PPD’s expertise in designing and managing practice-branded dental membership plans, helping practices build recurring income and strengthen patient relationships.

PPD works with independent practices, regional groups and dental service organisations across the UK.

The business provides end-to-end support from plan design and pricing to marketing, onboarding and day-to-day administration for hundreds of thousands of patients.

Yorkshire HealthTech Agilio, which is headquartered in Sheffield, said the combination creates a more integrated platform.

OpenAI has launched a new ChatGPT Health feature in the US that lets users share medical records and health app data for more personalised answers.

Conversations are stored separately and will not be used to train AI models, but privacy campaigners have warned that handling such sensitive data requires “airtight” safeguards.

The US giant says that more than 230 million people already ask ChatGPT health-related questions weekly and describes the feature as supporting, not replacing, medical care.

The tool is initially rolling out to a small group of US users, with no timeline yet for a UK launch amid stricter European data protection rules.

MAIA Technology has raised £4 million in a Series A funding round led by Molten Ventures.

The London-based company is building an AI-driven platform that brings portfolio analysis, trading, compliance, risk and reporting into a single system.

Led by CEO Mark Veevers, the platform is designed to integrate seamlessly into existing workflows, consolidating data into a single source of truth while reducing operational risk through automated compliance and real-time portfolio visibility.

The new funding will be used to enhance product capabilities, deepen integrations with data providers and trading venues, and expand adoption globally.

Author: Chris Maguire

Debbie Gallagher has been appointed head of partnerships at Vivify.

In her new national role, Gallagher will bridge the gap between schools and major organisations, working with high-value partnerships to drive revenue and create real community impact

Vivify is a Manchester tech startup that helps schools hire out facilities outside teaching hours.

Vivify now employs more than 500 people and has generated more than £10m in additional revenue for schools.

CEO Russell Teale won the Judges’ Award at the 2025 Northern Leaders Awards.

Next has announced a series of board changes, with long-serving executive director Jane Shields set to retire in May 2026 after 40 years with the business, stepping down from the board on 21st May.

Matt Barnes will be promoted to group sales and marketing director, taking responsibility for areas including e-commerce, brand marketing and retail operations, though he will not join the board at this stage.

Senior independent director and audit committee chair Jonathan Bewes will also retire in May 2026, ending nine years on the board.

Annette Court and Jeni Mundy will join as independent non-executive directors in March and April 2026 respectively, with Court becoming senior independent director and Soumen Das appointed audit committee chair from May.

Sainsbury’s reported a sixth consecutive Christmas of grocery market share gains as investment in value, quality and availability paid off.

Like-for-like sales for the 16 weeks to 3rd January rose 3.4% over the quarter, with grocery sales up 5.4% year on year and fresh food sales increasing by 8%, while Taste the Difference was the fastest-growing premium own-label brand in the market.

General merchandise and clothing remained under pressure and Argos sales declined amid weak consumer confidence and promotional intensity, but overall retail sales excluding fuel grew 3.9%.

The retail giant upgraded free cash flow expectations to more than £550 million and reiterated plans to return over £800m to shareholders this year, while maintaining guidance for retail underlying operating profit of more than £1 billion.

Buckinghamshire-based Halma has acquired Italian fire and gas safety specialist Safetec Srl for £63 million.

Founded in 2003 and based near Milan, Safetec designs and delivers customised safety systems for industries including power generation, oil and gas and pharmaceuticals, with a strong presence across the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

It is forecast to generate around £26m of revenue in the 12 months to December 2025 and will operate as a standalone business within Halma, led by its existing management team.

The deal, funded from Halma’s existing facilities, extends the group’s engineering expertise.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Marks & Spencer shares rose 4.81% today after the retailer reported a solid Christmas trading performance amid recovering from its widely reported cyber attack.

In a trading update covering the 13 weeks to 27th December 2025, M&S reported total group sales of £4.99 billion, with food continuing to lead the performance.

Food sales increased 6.6%, with like-for-like growth of 5.6%.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The owner of clothing giant Primark has seen its share price drop dramatically after it issued a profit warning.

Shares in Associated British Foods plc fell 13% today after it told the markets that it expects adjusted operating profit and adjusted earnings per share to fall in 2026. It previously forecasted that they would rise.

In 2025, ABF reported revenues of £19.5 billion and adjusted operating profit of £1.7bn.

The group, headquartered and listed in London, said two months ago that it was considering separating its fashion and food businesses. Described as operating a digitally-enabled, store-led model, Primark had 473 shops across 17 countries at the end of the 2025 financial year and is the flagship brand of ABF, despite being something of an outlier.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Tesco shares have fallen by nearly 7% today despite the UK’s largest supermarket reporting a strong Christmas performance and nudging full-year profit guidance to the top end of its forecast range.

In a trading update covering the 19 weeks to 3rd January 2026, the retail giant reported group like-for-like sales growth of 2.9%, with UK and Republic of Ireland sales up 3.8%.

UK like-for-like sales rose 3.7%, supported by continued market share gains, while Ireland delivered stronger growth of 4.6%.

Performance was more mixed elsewhere, with Booker sales down 1.3% over the period and falling 2.1% during the six-week Christmas trading window.

Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the Booker performance “wasn’t as good as hoped” and argued that the “net effect” was Tesco “only nudged” guidance to the top end of the range, when “many had been hoping for a bigger upgrade”.

Author: Chris Maguire

Brian Hay has stepped down as CEO of The Cardinal Partnership after 28 years.

Hay has assumed the role of executive chair while he’s been succeeded as CEO by John Keary.

It was back in 1988 that Hay quit his job to co-found Cardinal alongside two friends – Rob Cross and David Garratt  – with a £15,000 loan and bootstrapped it into one of the biggest names in global logistics.

Today, The Cardinal Partnership is the world’s largest employee-owned logistics business, merging two brands, Far Logistics and Cardinal Global Logistics.

Hay, who was born in Wythenshawe and was included in BusinessCloud’s 2025 Northern Leaders list, said: “I love this business. Everything we do is intentional and comes from a good place.

“We’ve learned that when you focus on being kind, caring and supportive, the good stuff tends to follow.

“I’m hugely grateful to continue my journey with Cardinal, and I genuinely feel we are still at the beginning of something special.

“Thank you to everyone who has supported me over the past 28 years.

“In my new role as executive chair, I’ll continue to work closely with the board, the business, and our Employee Trust on culture, governance, and strategy.”

The group has earned recognition in the logistics sector for its tech-powered approach.

Author: Patrick Killeen

FTSE 250-listed shipping services and investment banking group Clarkson PLC has acquired 100% of Zuma Labs, a technology provider serving the Forward Freight Agreement (FFA) and commodities markets.

Founded in 2020, London-based Zuma was established to meet increasing demand for real-time data and technology-led efficiency in freight and derivatives trading.

Its flagship product, Venetian, is a hybrid voice and electronic trading application that aims to enable market participants to collect, record and distribute live pricing through a single interface.

Zuma reported revenue of $7.4 million for 2024, a jump from 2023’s figure of $5.2m.

Clarkson PLC has been listed in London for almost 40 years and currently has a market cap of around £1.23 billion.

Its share price has risen by 55p to 3,990p since the acquisition was announced.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A Nasdaq-listed UK company has acquired EnviroTech firm Plan A for a potential €80 million (£70m).

Diginex, headquartered in London, is a leading provider of sustainability RegTech and data management solutions.

It has agreed the deal for Berlin-based Plan A, led by founder and CEO Lubomila Jordanova – a judge on BusinessCloud’s EnviroTech 50 ranking, and also co-founder of the GreenTech Alliance – to create one of Europe’s leading green technology platforms.

The total figure includes a €25m earnout.

Digital out-of-home (DOOH) supply-side platform VIOOH has entered a strategic partnership with Dolphin OOH to significantly expand access to premium DOOH inventory across the US.

Through the agreement, advertisers gain access to more than 5,000 digital screens across major US cities, generating over 50 million monthly impressions in high-traffic environments such as malls, transit hubs, grocery stores, pharmacies, gyms and urban panels.

Texas-headquartered Dolphin’s network spans key metropolitan markets including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Miami and Boston.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Burnley Football Club has selected Camb.ai, Mantis XR and Piing to take part in the inaugural cohort of its new Innovation Hub.

The selection follows a highly competitive global application process that attracted more than 200 companies.

The three businesses were chosen after a virtual Pitch Day hosted from Turf Moor, where six shortlisted finalists presented to a judging panel made up of senior leaders from Burnley FC and ALK Capital, alongside industry expert advisors.

Over a six-month pilot programme, the selected companies will work closely with the Premier League club’s operational teams to deploy and test their technologies in real-world club environments.

Beacon Therapeutics has secured a £55.6 million Series C financing to accelerate commercial preparations for its lead gene therapy, laru-zova.

The funding comes ahead of pivotal clinical data expected in the second half of 2026.

London-based Syncona invested £18.1m in the round, alongside a syndicate led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with participation from new and existing life sciences investors.

The funding will support the completion of laru-zova’s development for X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, as well as advance the Flordian firm’s wider ophthalmology pipeline.

Following the raise, listed Syncona’s holding in Beacon has been written up by £29.3m, with its ownership expected to reach 38.4% once the full Series C financing is drawn down.

Author: Chris Maguire

BusinessCloud has joined forces with the UK’s largest community of board advisors to hold a series of exclusive UK-wide masterclass business events in 2026.

VirtualNonExecs is the UK’s largest community of board advisors, giving corporate partners unparalleled access to the boardrooms of over 50,000 SMEs.

The company, which was acquired by Leonard Curtis in 2024, specialises in connecting companies, private equity, venture capital and family office funds with non-executive and chair professionals.

VirtualNonExecs has big ambitions to grow and have teamed up with BusinessCloud to hold a series of face-to-face masterclass events.

Experienced Dominique Dempsey has joined as events manager and the first  business breakfast has been confirmed for Leeds at the end of February on how to scale internationally.

 

Tekmar Group has secured a $1.5 million contract with an existing EPC customer to supply engineered scour protection solutions for a major port infrastructure project in the Middle East.

Delivery is scheduled for the third quarter of 2026 and the firm’ share price has risen very slightly today.

The Newton Aycliffe-based company provides asset protection technology and offshore energy services, designing and delivering engineering-led solutions that protect and stabilise offshore wind, marine civil and energy infrastructure.