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Nexeon has completed a £100 million battery investment round today. National Wealth Fund backing will support UK research and pilot manufacturing as the Oxfordshire company scales silicon-anode technology for lithium-ion batteries.
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Britain has opened four AI competitions worth £100 million today. The procurement scheme targets NHS productivity, computing efficiency, defence integration, and AI-agent security while allowing successful British technology companies to retain intellectual property.
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Prudential reported stronger new business profit and higher shareholder returns. First-half new business profit reached $1.384bn as margins expanded, with an additional roughly $300m share buyback also announced.
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Plug-in solar is now legal for households across Great Britain. Approved kits can generate up to 800W, opening a new distributed-energy market for manufacturers, retailers, installers, and network operators.
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Italy has requested €8bn from Europe’s SAFE defence funding scheme. The EU-backed loan programme is designed to accelerate joint procurement and expand Europe’s industrial capacity for defence equipment.
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Qatar’s LNG export collapse is tightening Europe’s energy security outlook. Alternative US supply has partly filled the gap, but unusually low European storage leaves businesses exposed to further price and supply pressure.
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Government has launched a new forum to expand creative exports. The Creative Trade Forum is accompanied by £10m of Innovate UK funding aimed at helping creative-technology companies scale and reach overseas markets.
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UK retailers reported a sharp deterioration in August sales volumes. The CBI sales balance fell to -48, although investment intentions improved and businesses expect the decline to moderate in September.
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Berlin will meet UniCredit directly over its Commerzbank takeover push. The September meeting marks Germany’s first formal engagement with chief executive Andrea Orcel during the two-year banking consolidation battle.
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Certain Energy has raised £10m to commercialise long-duration battery technology. The Imperial spinout will expand UK research, develop a grid-connected system in India, and build a supply chain for manganese flow batteries.