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Britain sold long-dated debt at its highest recorded yield today. The £4.25bn 2056 gilt attracted £87.2bn of orders, but its 5.8168% yield underlines the higher financing costs now confronting government and capital markets.
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The CMA wants stronger detection tools across public procurement markets. It estimates bid rigging could cost taxpayers between £1bn and £3.5bn annually and is pressing for better collection and analysis of tender data.
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Britain is consolidating space investment under one new national strategy. The £7.8bn programme concentrates government spending on communications, orbital monitoring, manufacturing, launch capability, defence, and regulatory reform through 2030.
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Kistos has secured legal ownership of two important Omani blocks. A Royal Decree has transferred Blocks 3 and 4 to the London-listed energy company, advancing a wider Oman acquisition programme that also includes Block 9.
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SigmaRoc is expanding its Baltic minerals platform through major acquisition. The London-listed group is buying Lithuanian producer AB Dolomitas for €110m plus €8m of non-core assets, adding high-grade dolomite reserves and production capacity.
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Claret Capital has closed its latest fund well above target. The London growth-debt manager raised €575m across Fund IV and related mandates, with nearly a third already deployed into European technology, life sciences, and impact companies.
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Concurrent Technologies has more than doubled first-half order intake today. The Colchester defence-computing group reported £46.9m of orders, including its largest contract to date, while revenue and profit also increased year on year.
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Distology is entering a new growth phase with Foresight backing. The Stockport cybersecurity distributor has changed institutional investor after NorthEdge’s exit, with European acquisitions, channel expansion, and AI-related services among the priorities for its next stage.
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Portman Finance is attracting private-equity interest at substantial valuations today. The specialist SME lender and broker is reported to be in talks over a transaction that could value the Northampton-based business at more than £300m.
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Engineers are warning of cascading risks across critical UK infrastructure. New research argues that resilience planning must account for compound extreme-weather events and failures spreading between power, water, transport, telecoms, healthcare, food, and digital systems.
