Rolls-Royce shares rally after unveiling bumper buyback plan Transport & Infrastructure Rolls-Royce has laid out plans to return billions to investors over the next two years after the blue-chip giant’s profit rocketed, leading to an upgrade of targets. The aerospace titan revealed plans for a £7bn to £9bn multi-year share buyback from 2026 to 2028, which comes as the firm wraps up a £1bn buyback from [...]
Defence and AI drive Europe’s venture capital rebound Tech European venture capital (VC) investment rose to €66bn (£57bn) in 2025, up five per cent year on year, as funding flowed into AI and defence tech, according to PitchBook data. The increase marks a post-pandemic high for the region, but reflects a narrowing of investor focus rather than a broad-based recovery. Large late-stage rounds in [...]
Ex-CEO faces trial for allegedly urging MPs to block Chinese-backed acquisition Legal The High Court is set to hear a case over an allegation against a former interim CEO of an aerospace firm who is accused of secretly lobbying MPs and the UK government to sabotage a Chinese-backed deal. The case follows a national security review by the UK government into a deal that could have led [...]
Whisper it: British manufacturing has been a quiet Brexit success story October 14, 2025 It’s time Brexit Britain created a trade policy that focuses on its competitive advantages, says Daniel Dieppe Brexit was never meant to be an economic success. At least, according to the Treasury estimates, which predicted a year-long recession, a 500,000 increase in unemployment and a reduction in growth between three and six per cent. Yet [...]
Meet the lawyer that launched Mayer Brown into Space (law) October 1, 2025 Fifteen years ago, Rachael O’Grady, an arbitration lawyer, had a blown-up satellite operator case land on her desk, a case that would pique her interest and ultimately lead to the creation of a space practice at Mayer Brown. “Given my international law background, I started thinking about space and how that might interact with international [...]
Defence spending will ‘generate 85,000 jobs’ by 2035 September 8, 2025 Defence spending commitments will create a total of 85,000 jobs across the sector in the next 10 years, analysis by a leading industry body has suggested, as government officials are rolling out plans to attract investment from the private sector. Ahead of a conference on defence investment, the trade body ADS has said the defence [...]
Rolls-Royce shares hit yet another record high August 4, 2025 Shares in FTSE 100 giant Rolls-Royce have hit yet another all-time high, giving the company a £90bn valuation for the first time in its history. Shares in the Derby-headquartered group are changing hands for a new record of around 1,090p this morning after rising by over two per cent in early trades. The increase means [...]
Sell-out Farnborough International Airshow boosted by Airbus and Boeing deals July 29, 2025 Finances at the company behind the Farnborough International Airshow took off after the bi-annual show saw deals worth more £81bn agreed, it has been revealed. The accounts for Farnborough International, which runs the airshow as well as an exhibition and conference centre alongside two film studios, show the business achieved a turnover of £52.3m in [...]
Steel industry demands rapid resolution to tariff uncertainty July 1, 2025 Car makers and aerospace manufacturers have welcomed the UK-US trade deal that came into force on Monday, but steelmakers have warned that delays to tariffs on their exports coming down are “paralysing” their industry. The UK is the only country to have secured a trade deal with the US since Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ reciprocal tariffs, [...]
Melrose founders’ Rosebank strikes £1.4bn deal June 6, 2025 Rosebank Industries, the investment vehicle led by Melrose founder Simon Peckham, has struck a £1.4bn deal for a North American electrical components business. The acquisition of Electrical Components International (ECI), the company’s first, will be financed through debt facilities and a £1.14bn capital raise at an issue price of £3 per share. Peckham, a veteran [...]