Author: Jonathan Symcox

Shares in On the Beach dropped 17% in morning trading after it reported a poor set of half-year results.

The online travel retailer reported a loss before tax of £3.2 million for the six months ended 31st March, compared with profit of £4.5m in the corresponding period last year.

Revenues were £52.2m, down £7.2m, despite a rise in booked total travel value from £611.7m to £626.2m. Adjusted EBITDA halved to £6.4m (H1 25: £12.8m).

However it saw record H1 booking volumes of 324,000, growing by 7% and significantly ahead of the market ‘despite significant industry headwinds’. Its monthly active app users grew 29% while it recently launched its app in ChatGPT and said further AI integrations are set to follow in H2.

It argued that the results ‘demonstrate the resilience of the model given widespread demand disruption from the conflict in the Middle East since 1st March’.

 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Travel Seen has acquired a majority stake in luxury ski specialist Oxford Ski Company.

The social-first group is headed by industry expert Jen Atkinson and backed by Arete Capital Partners.

The deal follows a string of acquisitions in late 2023 and swoop for eShores in late 2024, taking collective total travel value to over £55 million.

Oxford Ski Company specialises in curating high-end ski experiences at both chalets and hotels in the world’s best ski resorts for ultra-high-net-worth individuals in the UK and worldwide.

CEO Mark Gibbins and Rupert Longsdon, founder and chairman, will remain at the helm and retain a meaningful equity stake.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Paymentology has secured £130 million backing from two private equity firms.

Apis Partners and Aspirity Partners have invested in the London FinTech, which saw sales rise 117% in 2025.

The transaction brings together two investors with deep experience in the payments industry and a shared focus on advancing payments infrastructure. They believe that issuer processing represents one of the most significant opportunities in the sector.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Swedish private equity firm EQT has made a fourth and final bid of £9.4 billion to acquire Intertek Group plc.

The offer is made up of £9.24bn in cash, with the remainder made up by the final dividend for 2025 announced earlier this year should this be approved by shareholders at the firm’s annual general meeting on 20th May 2026.

EQT saw its third offer of almost £9bn – £58 per share in cash – rejected last week. Under public market rules, it has until Thursday to submit a firm offer for the FTSE 100 firm or walk away.

Activist investor PrimeStone has urged Intertek to engage with EQT and give it ​supervised due diligence access, as well as to take a more realistic ​approach to assessing its fair value. It said that “the view that £65 [is fair value]… seems disconnected from reality”.

Another investor, Palliser Capital, told BusinessCloud that the latest proposal from EQT “represents an attractive opportunity for shareholders that compares favourably, on a risk-and-time-adjusted basis, to the outcomes achievable through the strategic review [if Intertek was to split its businesses]”.

It added: “We strongly urge the Intertek board to engage with EQT now to establish a constructive dialogue, allow any required due diligence to take place and secure a favourable transaction for shareholders.”

Reports suggest that other investors have urged Intertek to hold its nerve and rebuff EQT’s advances.

Author: Steve Rowbotham, founder & CEO, Navigator

My dad told me my life would change when I became a father. I smiled, nodded, thanked him for the wisdom and had absolutely no idea what he meant until my son arrived.

There is no amount of reading or preparing that gets you there – you only understand it by living it.

Founding a company is exactly the same. I’ve spent time in environments that demand everything from you – particularly rowing for Team GB at the Olympics – and I still walked into building Navigator without truly grasping what it would ask of me.

You can talk to founders and study the frameworks but none of it fully lands until you’re the one making the calls and discovering at close range how to carry the weight and what you’re actually made of. It becomes apparent that the gap between knowing something intellectually and understanding it in your bones is wider than most people realise.

Here’s what I was least prepared for, though, and it isn’t what most people would expect. It wasn’t the difficulty, the pressure, the sleepless nights or even the moments where the path forward wasn’t clear. All of that I had braced myself for, at least in theory. What I genuinely wasn’t ready for was the generosity.

Author: Varun Bhanot, founder & CEO, Magic AI

There’s a version of this job that looks, from the outside, like a calendar full of important meetings and sharp decisions made with total clarity. The reality is something messier and more interesting than that.

Every week looks different – investor conversations one week, deep in hiring the next, then pulled back into product or working through a growth question that’s been sitting unresolved for longer than it should have been – and any sense of routine feels almost illusory.

And yet there is one fixed point every Tuesday. Without exception, my day starts with the C-suite and then opens out to the whole company. That rhythm matters more than it might sound. When everything else is in constant motion, having a moment in the week that everyone can orient around isn’t just useful – it’s necessary.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

E.ON has announced its planned acquisition of OVO, the UK residential energy supplier.

The transaction represents a significant investment by Germany-based E.ON Group into the UK market. It said the deal will accelerate consumer energy flexibility.

Maven Capital Partners has led a £2.6 million funding round in Edinburgh-based Esk Film Services.

The global entertainment technology company produces high-end live experiences for blue-chip brands such as Netflix, Paramount and BAFTA. The business specialises in licensing iconic IP from rightsholders and transforming it into impactful, live entertainment formats providing services to promotors and venue operators on an international scale.

The company has also developed a proprietary media control system, combining bespoke hardware and software to deliver reliable, high-quality audio-visual playback for live entertainment. Created in-house in response to repeated failures with incumbent solutions, the system is designed to deliver dependable synchronisation and performance in medium to large venues internationally.

Funding was provided by the Maven VCTs and the British Business Bank’s Investment Fund for Scotland, which is also managed by Maven.

BGF-backed hedgehog lab has announced a series of promotions among its senior team, as the Newcastle-headquartered global product design consultancy continues to set itself up for ambitious growth over the next few years.

Joe Thompson, hedgehog lab’s chief technology officer (CTO), has joined the company’s board. Joe has more than 25 years’ experience in the tech sector, and has been with hedgehog lab for the last two, having previously held senior roles at Xoomworks – part of global consultancy Accenture.

Ryan Scaife, previously hedgehog lab’s chief financial officer, has taken on an expanded role as the business’s new chief financial & operating officer (CFOO). He has been with hedgehog lab for more than three years, having previously held similar positions at Netsells and Epiphany Search.

Aimé Watson Bachini has also been promoted to director of people, as hedgehog lab steps up its plans to grow its headcount in the months ahead. Aimé has been with hedgehog lab since 2020, leading on HR, talent acquisition, and the development of its culture.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Nscale has raised an additional $790 million in financing to reinforce the continued development of its AI data centre in Narvik, Norway.

The financing has been committed by ABN AMRO, DNB, Eksfin, Nordea and SEB. It includes an additional $790m uncommitted accordion feature to fund a further 115MW expansion at the Narvik AI data centre.

Nscale recently raised $2 billion in Series C funding – led by Aker ASA and 8090 Industries – and secured a $1.4bn delayed draw term loan. Former Deputy Prime Minister and Facebook executive Nick Clegg has also joined its board.

JustGiving has launched an AI-enabled fundraising coach to help fundraisers to achieve their fundraising goals – a first for the UK market.

Called Hope, the new fundraising coach will provide bespoke guidance to users of the UK’s largest fundraising platform, advising them on how to increase awareness and support for their challenge throughout their fundraising journey.

Internal research from JustGiving shows that the period after creating a fundraising page can be quite daunting for fundraisers who have committed to raise money for a good cause but aren’t sure how to reach their target. However, JustGiving data shows that every share a fundraising page receives is worth £63 in donations on average, highlighting the benefits to fundraisers of proactively promoting their challenges.

Hope has been developed to address this by providing support to fundraisers through their whole fundraising journey, helping them to generate and sustain momentum to drive more engagement and donations.

The tool operates through a dashboard with an integrated chatbot and is designed to deliver a human-first experience. Responsible use of generative AI is built in at key points to engender trust and confidence in the coach, ensuring it adds genuine value for fundraisers without unnecessary automation.

Hope will do this through capabilities including recommendations of personalised outreach messages, tailored advice on how to increase the visibility of fundraising pages and how to optimise on-page content.

Fundraisers are first asked a short series of questions to help Hope understand what help they need and the potential donors they want to reach. Hope then uses this information to provide tailored advice – helping to coach the users through their fundraising journey.

Lancashire-based Cegedim Rx, the leading provider of software and technology for pharmacists, has expanded its senior leadership team with the appointment of Andy Gent.

The appointment will see Andy, who has more than 12 years of experience within health technology, take the role of product director.

Having previously worked for the community pharmacy technology specialist for four years until his departure in 2023, Andy has also held roles across primary and secondary care with Optum (formerly EMIS) and TPP.

As product director Andy will be responsible for leading the continued development of Cegedim Rx’s award-winning system, Pharmacy Manager.

Propel Healthtech West Yorkshire has launched its second cohort of innovators, bringing together founders, partners and stakeholders from across the region’s health innovation ecosystem.

Following a record number of applications to the six-month accelerator, Propel has welcomed 30 new innovators to the programme, with an even split across its Start-Up and Scale-Up pathways.

The cohort reflects the breadth and strength of the region’s health innovation sector, with companies working across areas including artificial intelligence (AI), mental health and patient pathway transformation.

Together, these innovators represent an increase in the number of solutions designed to address key challenges across our local health and care system, including improving outcomes, enhancing experiences and supporting more efficient systems.

ThatRound, a platform bringing structure and transparency to UK early-stage fundraising, has closed a pre-seed round of funding.

The round was led by founder Bradley Jones and completed by a group of 20 angel investors from Aligned Syndicate. The round closed in two weeks and carries EIS qualification.

Since launch, over 500 founders have signed up while more than 1,500 structured funding applications have been submitted through the platform.

The funding will be used to expand ThatRound’s AI matching capabilities, develop its LLM-powered learning engine, and hire three new roles: an account executive, marketing executive and AI lead. The business has grown from a one-person operation to a team of nine in under a year.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Newcastle robotics firm Wootzano has resumed trading after the Court of Session in Edinburgh halted liquidation proceedings.

It followed the confirmation of approximately £237 million in contracted distribution agreements in a report submitted to the court.

The court granted a sist – a Scottish legal mechanism that pauses the liquidation process and allows a company to continue trading – in what is understood to be a rare outcome in UK insolvency cases.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

essensys plc will leave the London Stock Exchange on 10th June after it applied to cancel its public listing.

Founder Mark Furness led a £73 million IPO in 2019 but now intends to take the PropTech firm private again for just £11.3m after the deal was approved by more than 98% of shareholders.

He has been backed by high-profile investors Sir Terry Leahy and William Currie.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Wise plc has today moved its primary listing to the United States.

The London-headquartered FinTech will begin trading on New York’s Nasdaq exchange when it opens this morning.

The money transfer service is maintaining a public listing on the London Stock Exchange but has shifted its primary listing to the US to “accelerate” its path “to become ‘the’ network for the world’s money”.

Autonomous driving tech firm Aurrigo has secured a £4.5 million contract to supply electrical systems for a vehicle OEM’s next-gen supercar programme.

Aurrigo International plc said the multi-year advanced engineering framework agreement will see £810,000 of contracted orders recognised in FY26, with the remainder due to be placed across FY27 and FY28 in line with the customer’s production schedule.

Author: Wiktoria Anna, founder, Wiktoria Anna Art

In 2023, I left my legal career to pursue art full-time.

For many people, that probably sounds like a reckless move.

Law is stable, respected and predictable. Building a business around watercolour painting is, on the face of it, none of those things.

But what I have learned since is that building a business, whatever industry you are in, is not simply about talent or hard work.

It is about visibility, connection and the willingness to put yourself in rooms where opportunities can actually find you.

When I first started building Wiktoria Anna Art, I thought the main thing I needed to do was improve my work. Paint more. Create more. Refine my ideas. Make everything better behind the scenes. And of course, the quality of the work matters.

But one of the biggest lessons I have learned is that a business cannot grow if nobody knows you exist.

That may sound obvious, but it is a lesson many of us resist, especially if we are more comfortable focusing on the work itself.

It is much easier to sit at home perfecting ideas than it is to introduce yourself at an event, speak about your business with confidence or follow up after meeting someone new.

Yet those moments have changed my business far more than I expected.

Author: Craig Brennan, founder and chief executive, SK4 Holdings

Over the past 20 years, I have founded three businesses, which all sit under my holding company, SK4 Holdings. These are LSC, Nurtured Childcare and Smile Society.

LSC, which I founded 20 years ago, is now the UK’s largest provider of specialist PPA cover and wraparound childcare for primary schools.

In 2021, we launched Nurtured Childcare after my wife and I struggled to find suitable childcare for our first daughter. It now operates 12 children’s day nurseries across the North of England.

Smile Society, our dental group, was founded in 2025 and currently operates four fully private dental practices.

Outside the group, I also own Cheadle Town FC, a non-league football club which plays in the North West Counties Premier League and Women’s National League.

For me, most days start with exercise. Fitness is very important to me, so I go to the gym three mornings a week before work. I also run, cycle, play padel regularly and aim for 10,000 steps every day.

I normally get into work at around 8am. The first 30 minutes are usually spent on emails before moving into meetings and the day’s priorities.

Because I lead three businesses, I have a heavy involvement in building the right leadership teams.