
British SMEs are turning to mergers and acquisitions to sustain growth as organic expansion slows. The piece outlines the current UK mid‑market M&A landscape, noting strong activity in technology, healthcare, manufacturing and professional services. It highlights strategic drivers such as market entry, digital capability acquisition, and talent procurement while stressing risk management, thorough due diligence, and varied financing structures. Finally, it stresses that disciplined post‑deal integration—especially around culture and communication—is essential for lasting value creation.

Axiom Space announced a $350 million capital raise, co‑led by Type One Ventures and Qatar Investment Authority, to accelerate its commercial space‑station program and the development of NASA‑contracted AxEMU spacesuits. The funding will finance the design, testing and launch of two...
Eurozone preliminary GDP showed a 0.3 % QoQ rise in Q4 2025, matching expectations and nudging annual growth to 1.4 %. The United Kingdom posted a weaker 0.1 % QoQ increase, missing forecasts and pulling annual growth to 1 %. The data lifted the...

Kraft Heinz announced in September 2025 a split into two publicly traded companies to address a decade of declining sales and brand write‑downs. Six weeks after appointing CEO Steve Cahillane, the company reversed the plan, pausing the separation and redirecting...

U.S. consumer price index for January rose 2.4% year‑over‑year, missing the 2.5% consensus, while month‑over‑month inflation eased to 0.2% against an expected 0.3%. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, held steady at 2.5% y/y and 0.3% m/m, in line...

Singapore’s port recorded a historic 3.22 billion gross tonnes of vessel arrivals and 44.66 million TEUs in 2025, marking 3.5% and 8.6% growth respectively over 2024. The hub remains second only to Shanghai, with Ningbo‑Zhoushan closing the gap, while contributing roughly 7%...

The Morning SPAC News Roundup for February 13, 2026 was published on SPAC Insider, offering a curated list of SPAC‑related developments. Access to the full content requires a paid monthly subscription, limiting free readership. The post includes typical market commentary, deal announcements,...

Bhatia Communications & Retail announced February 20 as the record date for its third interim dividend for FY 2025‑26, offering Rs 0.01 per equity share. The dividend is payable to shareholders holding shares before that date. The announcement follows a December‑quarter earnings beat,...
Morgan Stanley Investment Management is exploring a $500 million continuation fund focused on India, intending to transfer eight healthcare‑related assets, including Omega Hospitals and RG Scientific, into the new vehicle. The move signals the firm’s effort to provide existing investors an...
The episode examines why seasonal peaks, especially the pre‑Chinese New Year rush, failed to boost air‑freight rates in 2026, with global spot rates matching those of 2024 and 2025 despite differing holiday windows. Forwarders and industry experts, including Lana Radzina of...

You can be world-class and still invisible. Just ask Joshua Bell, one of the world’s top violinists... In 2007, Joshua Bell played his $3.5M Stradivarius violin for 45 minutes in a Washington, D.C. subway station. Only 7 people stopped to listen. The same...

Voya announced an average 24% increase in stop‑loss premiums for employers renewing on Jan. 1, citing strong demand and limited supply. The company’s loss ratio improved to 96% from 115.4% a year earlier, though it still exceeds its 77‑80% target. Stop‑loss...

Investors are flocking to mining equities as gold and silver prices surged in early 2026, with Glencore and Fresnillo ranking among Interactive Investor’s most‑popular stocks. Strong commodity rallies have propelled miners such as Barrick and Fresnillo to share price gains...

Addverb, a Noida‑based robotics firm backed by Reliance, has introduced its first humanoid robot—a six‑foot, 80 kg machine capable of carrying 15 kg and equipped with wheels for legs. The humanoid is designed for unstructured factory and warehouse settings where traditional automation...

Quince Therapeutics warned investors it may need bankruptcy protection after its lead drug eDSP failed a pivotal phase 3 trial for ataxia‑telangiectasia. The SEC filing disclosed less than $6 million in cash, $12 million in short‑term investments and a $16 million unsecured line of...

Rightmove, the UK’s leading digital property portal, will embed Google’s Gemini large‑language‑model into its search service. The integration enables conversational, natural‑language queries and personalised property discovery, letting users describe homes in plain English instead of ticking boxes. Gemini’s AI will...
Ovid Therapeutics, under new CEO Meg Alexander, is re‑orienting its neuroscience pipeline toward first‑in‑class KCC2 modulators while advancing a drug‑resistant epilepsy candidate toward Phase 2. The company’s earlier flagship, soticlestat, failed in Phase 3, eliminating $600 million in potential milestones, prompting a strategic...

Freelancers must treat economic cycles and AI disruption as catalysts for change, not threats. By broadening skill sets, offering multiple services, and positioning themselves as strategic advisors, they can convert slow periods into growth opportunities. Financial discipline—cash reserves, expense audits,...

$TOST Q4: Operating income +140% YoY, net income +216% YoY. Margins expanding across the board. Revenue came in at $1.63B, up 22% YoY. Growth moderated vs +25% last quarter, but profitability stepped up meaningfully. Gross profit grew 27% YoY with gross margin...

Talks between Sky and ITV over the £1.6 billion sale of ITV's Media and Entertainment division have slowed, according to Reuters sources. The deal was intended to create a top‑three UK streaming player capable of challenging global services such as Netflix...
A wave of weakness hit India’s blue‑chip segment as the Sensex slumped nearly 1,048 points, pushing nine BSE 200 stocks to fresh 52‑week lows. Leading IT giants Wipro, L&T Technology Services, TCS and Infosys each fell between 14% and 19% over...
for all the criticism and hand wringing, nato continues to serve a useful role for all members and nobody is trying to leave it or replace it. there’s a crisis of trust in the transatlantic relationship. but not an existential...

Nineteen MENA game studios have graduated from the second cohort of Exel by Merak, an $80 million gaming accelerator launched by Merak Capital. Each studio receives $300,000 in seed funding plus mentorship and global network access. Cohort 2 has already produced $1.2 million...

There's only been 28 trading days this year and ETFs have already pulled in about $250b. More than double any other start to a year. Up until 2020, $250b was what they averaged for a YEAR. That's $9b/day pace, or...

The European Commission has cleared Universal Music Group’s purchase of Downtown Music Holdings, but only after the companies agreed to fully divest Downtown’s royalty‑accounting platform Curve. The conditional approval removes UMG’s ability to access Curve’s data on rival labels, which...

Mastercard treats executive succession as an ongoing discipline rather than a one‑off event, exemplified by the recent handoff from its former chief people officer to Susan Muigai. The transition leveraged the Mastercard Fellows Program, allowing the outgoing CPO to contribute...
U.S. consumer price index data for January showed annual inflation easing to 2.4% from 2.7% in December, missing the 2.5% market forecast. Monthly CPI rose 0.2% and core CPI remained at 2.5% year‑over‑year, matching expectations. The softer headline number nudged...

Deepfake attacks have moved from a niche concern to a mainstream cybersecurity priority, with 62% of organizations reporting at least one incident in the past year. Hackers are leveraging publicly available AI models, such as Google Gemini, to create convincing...

Yes, most of the jobs last month (and the previous 18 months) have come from health care/social assistance. But if things were so bad would there be 32k in construction? Or 5k added in manufacturing? The labor market isn't great by...

Security Alliance (SEAL) reports that North Korean actors are hijacking authentic LinkedIn profiles to pose as remote IT workers and infiltrate companies worldwide. By leveraging stolen personal data, verified workplace emails and AI‑generated imagery, they pass background checks and secure...
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France’s new energy planning law (PPE) sets a decarbonised electricity goal of 650‑693 TWh by 2035, up from 540 TWh today, and aims for 70% of total energy consumption to come from clean power. The decree trims wind and solar targets by...

The Small Business Administration has announced a rule that excludes permanent‑resident (green‑card) holders from eligibility for SBA 7(a) and 504 loans. The change eliminates a primary source of affordable credit for many immigrant‑owned small businesses, especially in states with large...

Trump talks "deals" with Iran while Russia & China talk about naval escorts of Iranian oil to Cuba, writes @TheMichaelEvery The US repeals carbon regs & hopes to restart Venezuelan oil output soon. Energy is being militarized Markets, sanctions & climate...
Another SOFT inflation surrpise... It has become a bit of a theme, and we are increasingly convinced that inflation forecasting has become a "politicized arena" within banks, given how incredibly stubborn they have been in their wrong lean on this.

WapiPay, a Kenyan fintech founded in 2019, has introduced a Remittance Credit Scorecard (RCS) that lets banks and SACCOs incorporate diaspora money‑transfer data into loan underwriting. The AI‑driven tool analyzes payment frequency, size and stability, converting these patterns into a...
📉 Softer US Inflation - Markets React 🔻 Softer US inflation numbers 🔻 USD tumbling 🔻 10-year yield falling ⬆️ Gold rising ⬆️ Stocks rallying 📊 CPI Breakdown: • MoM: 0.2% actual vs 0.3% forecast • YoY: 2.5% actual vs 2.5% forecast (2.7% previous)
JANUARY EFFECT, or “Why this inflation report matters more than others” Since the start of 2022, core CPI has risen 0.45% month-on-month in January, versus an average of 0.33% for all months.

Mintegral and Insightrackr released the 2026 Global Non‑Gaming App Trends Report, analyzing data from over 100 markets in 2025. The study highlights rapid AI integration, explosive growth in Short Drama apps, and a shift toward ROI‑centric, automated bidding. It also...

One constant in the Trump administration is that - when the Treasury market wobbles - it backs down. That happened on China in Apr. '25 and again on Greenland recently. 10y10y forward yield remains near its highs, even as 10y...

$SPX futures slipping after losing 6902/6870 as traders cut risk and lean short. Upper range looks vulnerable, especially in tech with lots of names bent or broken. If SPY/QQQ lose the 8/21-day, expect more cash + day trading. CPI at...

Based on The Conference Board’s C‑Suite Outlook 2026 survey, CEOs worldwide identified artificial intelligence as the most significant negative societal or technological shift for 2026, outranking political polarization and changing consumer behavior. Political uncertainty and public‑policy volatility also top external...
OIL MARKET: The core group of OPEC+ countries need to decide on March 1 whether to re-start production increases after the Jan-Mar pause. Some members in the group see scope for resuming the monthly hikes, although conversations haven't started yet....

The US exorbitant privilege - the ability to issue debt more cheaply than others - ended about a decade ago. We're now issuing debt at a premium, the result of deficits and debt that are out of control. This change...

Rural ISPs repeatedly cite financing caps as the primary barrier to expanding broadband, not a lack of willingness. Lenders impose strict borrowing limits based on cash flow, debt ratios, and broader market conditions, which many small providers cannot exceed. Grant...

Dell Technologies has revamped its sales compensation, instituting a 60% quota threshold that eliminates commissions for under‑performance and shifting most teams to quarterly quotas. The payout curve is steeper, offering incremental rewards but dramatically increasing upside for over‑achievement, with top...

A senior Consumer Reports director recounts how international relief funds for Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica were crippled by fragmented payment systems, losing roughly 10% to fees and taking weeks to clear. Despite a plethora of fintech options, P2P apps, traditional...
I will be on @YahooFinance at 8:30 am today to talk about the CPI. Friday the 13th and inflation. (My preview thread below.)

Viasat’s latest survey of 600 IoT decision‑makers across agriculture, energy, transport, mining and utilities finds direct‑to‑device (D2D) connectivity is poised for mass adoption within 18 months. Ninety percent of respondents say D2D will accelerate the global rollout of industrial IoT,...

Russian commentators continue to label Central Asia as a Russian sphere of influence, but the region is asserting its independence. Over the past 35 years, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have leveraged their abundant critical minerals and transit corridors...
Engineers India Ltd (EIL) posted a net profit of Rs 302 crore for Q3 FY2025‑26, more than three times its profit a year earlier. The surge was driven by a dramatic rise in turnkey contract earnings, which jumped to Rs 273.68 crore from Rs 18.92 crore,...