West Midlands Pension Fund has acquired a major Bedford facility. The 462,700 sq ft logistics asset is fully let to Sainsbury’s and supports the retailer’s national clothing distribution network.

Automotive suppliers want government help to enter defence manufacturing markets. The proposal would use existing engineering capacity as vehicle orders weaken and defence procurement expands, but suppliers say certification and financing create a costly transition gap.

UK manufacturers are automating faster as operating pressures persist nationwide. Barclays research finds 87% using automation to manage disruption, while energy costs constrain investment and financing behaviour increasingly diverges between larger manufacturers and SMEs.

Essar has doubled its UK forecourt network through SGN Retail. The acquisition creates a 235-site estate and advances a strategy to build an 800-location, vertically integrated fuel-retail platform by 2031.

Government intervention puts Speciality Steel UK closer to public ownership. Ministers are preparing an acquisition after rejecting a private bid, with more than 1,300 jobs and strategically important specialist-steel capacity at stake.

Britain’s first mainline battery-electric train fleet will support manufacturing jobs. Alstom will build 29 trains in Derby under contracts worth more than €1.2bn, with thousands of UK supply chain roles linked to the programme.

A £350m chemicals resilience fund has entered UK subsidy review. The proposed scheme could cover half of eligible capital costs for producers supplying critical infrastructure and strategically important industrial supply chains.