Britain’s vending, coffee and automated retail sector grew to £3.78bn in 2025, outpacing UK GDP, as smart fridges surged 50% and 62% of payments went mobile.
Category: In Business
Advice on growing your small and medium sized business, SME, in the UK. Hiring and managing staff and finance plus marketing all on one website
Meta to axe 8,000 jobs as Zuckerberg doubles down on AI race
Meta begins 8,000 global redundancies to bankroll a $145bn AI splurge, with 350 Dublin roles in the firing line as Zuckerberg chases ‘personal superintelligence’.
Bolt boss defends sacking entire HR team, claiming staff ‘invented problems that didn’t exist’
Bolt chief executive Ryan Breslow has defended axing the fintech’s entire HR department, claiming the team “created problems that didn’t exist” as the firm slashes headcount and pivots to an AI-first model.
AI-powered nimbyism is jamming Britain’s planning system putting 1.5 million new homes at risk
AI tools such as Objector.ai and ChatGPT are helping residents flood councils with sophisticated planning objections, slowing UK approvals and putting the 1.5 million homes target at risk, warns TerraQuest chief Geoff Keal.
Rooftop solar pioneers sought as CPRE opens nominations for Centenary Award
CPRE has opened nominations for its Best Rooftop Solar Solution award, recognising SMEs, community groups and innovators delivering clean energy. Entries close 30 June 2026.
The Knowledge versus the algorithm: inside London’s £42bn robotaxi reckoning
Waymo and Wayve are racing to launch driverless robotaxis in London by Q4 2026. With black cab numbers down 34% and £42bn at stake, can the Knowledge survive the algorithm?
The ’43 club’: why Britain’s typical entrepreneur has barely aged a day in 25 years
New analysis of 9.2 million UK director appointments shows the average age of a British founder has stayed at 43 for more than two decades, defying recessions, Brexit and the rise of teenage tech stars.
ICO Warns SMEs: one month to comply with new Data Complaints Law
UK businesses have just four weeks to put a statutory data protection complaints process in place before the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 takes effect on 19 June 2026. Here’s what SMEs must do.
Packaging power: how Cheshire’s Packaging One sealed a £4m export deal with UKEF backing
Cheshire’s Packaging One has won a £4m contract with a global tech giant after UKEF and NatWest unlocked working capital through the General Export Facility.
How a 50-person start-up beat TikTok at the IPO – with Lord Sugar in its corner
An Isle of Man fintech start-up has beaten TikTok at the UK Intellectual Property Office, winning a two-year trade mark fight backed by Lord Sugar’s Trade Mark Wizards, and TikTok has been ordered to pay costs
Britain’s billionaires are voting with their feet – and the rich list proves it
The 2026 Sunday Times Rich List lays bare a record wealth exodus from Britain, with one in six members dropping out, Dyson’s fortune halved and Revolut’s Nik Storonsky storming into the top 10.
JCB succession: Lord Bamford anoints younger son George as heir to £6.5bn digger empire
Lord Bamford has named younger son George as his successor at JCB, sidelining elder brother Jo and ending years of speculation over the future of Britain’s £6.5bn family-owned digger dynasty.
Lidl ropes in Olio and Neighbourly in landmark surplus food trial that could rescue 11.9 million meals a year
Lidl GB has joined forces with Olio and Neighbourly in a 20-store trial designed to redistribute 5,000 tonnes of surplus food a year, the equivalent of 11.9 million meals, as the discounter races to hit its 70% waste reduction target by 2030.
Hertfordshire Pharma lands £2.3m Saudi contracts after UKEF steps in to plug working capital gap
UK Export Finance insurance has unlocked an HSBC UK credit lift, allowing Hertfordshire SME Masters Speciality Pharma to ship £2.3m of lifesaving medicines to Saudi Arabia.
Many British exporters chasing US tariff refunds may end up with nothing
Thousands of British exporters chasing US tariff refunds through the CAPE system may walk away empty-handed, warns Blick Rothenberg, as ineligibility and filing errors plague claims.
