News

On 19 October 2021, the Directors of Forthplus Pensions Limited (“Forthplus” or the “Company”), a firm authorised and regulated by the FCA, appointed Andrew Poxon, Alex Cadwallader and Barry Stewart of Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group, insolvency practitioners, as Joint Administrators (the “Administrators”). 

Forthplus are a pension provider and administrator, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It provided a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) scheme to approximately 2,500 customers. Most customers were UK expatriates. The value of assets under management at the date of the Administration was approximately £500m.  

The demise of the Company follows a range of factors, most notably the impact of the inability to renew or extend professional indemnity insurance (PII). On 1 September 2021, the firm announced that it would put a hold on accepting new applications whilst it made arrangements regarding PII. However, after consultation with the FCA, it was also deemed appropriate to protect consumers and to cancel all policies which had not received their first transfer and cease all in-flight transfers. The impact of this resulted in the firm having to write down significant sums of revenue, and those losses placed the Company in breach of its FCA defined liquid capital requirement. 

The Company’s position has been compounded by the uncertainty on the outcome and timing of a decision of the Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS”) relating to a complaint made against the Company in October 2018, which could, in the event of a decision being upheld in favour of the complainant, lead to a number of further additional claims being made by customers.

Having explored all options available, the Board ultimately concluded that there was nothing that could be done in the short term given the current circumstances to rectify the position and the Company was no longer able to meet the threshold conditions to remain as a compliant business. Accordingly, the Board resolved that the Company was not able to continue operating and therefore steps should be taken to protect the interests of customers, creditors and stakeholders and the Company should be placed into Administration. 

The Administrators are currently assessing the options available to them regarding the transfer of customers to an alternative FCA regulated SIPP Administrator. The Company and Administrators are in regular contact with the FCA regarding the proposed strategy. 

The Administrators will be publishing detailed guidance on the next steps for creditors and customers in due course on their dedicated webpage for the Administration www.leonardcurtis.co.uk/forthplus. This website will be used to provide further updates and information as and when appropriate and creditors and customers are encouraged to monitor the website on an ongoing basis.

For all customer, creditor and non-press related enquires a dedicated email address has been set up [email protected] and we would encourage all queries to be directed to us via this channel. You may also call our dedicated call centre on +44 (0) 161 532 4621 for further support.

London-based fintech aiming to help thousands of first-time buyers and ‘second steppers’  on property ladder 

London, 20 October 2021: neo-lender Proportunity has raised £105m ($150m) investment through debt and equity funding as it aims to support more people achieve their UK home ownership dream. The new investment follows a £7.3m ($10m) funding round in 2020 for the London-based fintech. 

This latest debt and equity round was led by VentureFriends, Kibo Ventures and existing investors Anthemis, Entrepreneur First, and new UK proptech investors Amro Partners. The new investment will enable Proportunity to grow its team and will go towards helping more than 2,000 individuals and families to buy their first home or progress up the property ladder. The funding will also increase Proportunity’s maximum loan size from £90,000 up to £150,000 per home, further boosting affordability for buyers and helping them secure the home of their choice. 

Lending since 2018, Proportunity provides home purchase equity loans to support first home buyers (FHBs) in getting a foothold on the booming UK property market. The company also helps ‘second steppers’ secure a new home to accommodate changing circumstances, such as a growing family in a market where consumers struggle with affordability amid rising property prices.

Proportunity loans are similar to those available through the UK Government’s Help to Buy scheme but are available for all homes, not just new builds. They enable buyers to afford homes with only a 5% deposit, reducing the amount they need in savings. The Proportunity equity loan of up to £150,000 or 25% of the house price sits on top of the maximum mortgage that can be secured from a mainstream lender, enabling a buyer to borrow up to six times their income level. This additional financial leverage closes the significant gap between what many UK borrowers can secure from a mortgage and the cost of a home they wish to purchase. 

Research* shows that 85% of renters in the UK want to own their own home, but are unable to do so due to high deposit requirements and rapidly rising prices which are squeezing affordability for those trying to get on the housing ladder. In 2020, 65% of first-home buyers (FHBs) cited deposits and affordability as the main roadblocks. There are limited solutions available: banks, deterred from low-deposit lending by regulations and capital requirements, will typically lend up to a maximum of 4.5 times income and demand large deposits to mitigate house price risk. Help to Buy provides a solution for those purchasing new-build properties, but only serves 10% of FHBs and is set to end in April 2023. 

Proportunity also utilises machine learning technology that helps identify fair valued homes in high potential growth areas, de-risking lending and removing the need for a large deposit. Properties that have been selected via this innovative technology have registered returns that are 50% better per year than the UK house price index (HPI). 

Vadim Toader, Proportunity CEO and co-founder said: “We’re delighted with the success of this latest investment round which will enable us to help thousands of people in the UK own their first home or progress up the property ladder.  

“In the UK there is a £100-200K gap between what buyers want and what they can afford, mainly caused by maximum income/mortgage ratio restrictions and high deposit requirements. In a market of fast-rising house prices, first-time buyers and those wishing to progress on the property ladder are facing a losing battle. Proportunity provides a solution which closes the gap and helps buyers afford the property they want in the communities where they want to live.” 

VentureFriends partner, George Dimopoulossaid: “We’ve been investing in proptech startups that improve the real estate journey since 2016. In Proportunity we saw a product that can positively impact the lives of thousands of FHBs. Proportunity founders, Vadim and Stefan, have experienced the pain of trying to get on the housing ladder themselves and we were impressed with their resilience, drive and progress so far. “Proportunity directly addresses the pain of FHBs, it makes housing more affordable and more attainable while also sharing the house price risk, instead of putting the risk solely on the FHB and/or their family.”

Javier Torremocha from Kibo Ventures said: “We were greatly impressed by the vision and execution capabilities of the team led by Vadim and Stefan. Proportunity is in the very attractive intersection between proptech and fintech, and contributes to generating positive impact in people by allowing first-time home buyers access to their dream homes. Kibo Ventures has been an early backer of unicorns like payments company Flywire (Nasdaq $FLYW), workforce-as-a-service JobandTalent or micro-mobility Tier. We believe Proportunity has the potential to join this exclusive club. Kibo Ventures invests at an early stage in consumer and enterprise software, supporting European companies with their international expansion.” 

Anthemis Group Partner, Ruth Foxe Blader, said: “Anthemis is thrilled to continue supporting Proportunity in its journey to help first-time buyers get great homes. Despite the challenges of Covid lockdowns and market uncertainties, this outstanding team has continued its growth journey on multiple fronts. We’re excited for the next chapter!”

Square Marketing and Square Loyalty are the latest products to expand Square’s connected ecosystem in the UK

London, 20th October 2021: Square has announced two new tools in the UK to help businesses grow their sales and engage customers with just a few clicks. The two tools, Square Marketing and Square Loyalty, are now available as separate subscriptions for UK businesses of all types and sizes. 

Square Marketing helps businesses reach customers at the right time and all in one place. The tool allows businesses to create, send, and track email marketing campaigns in minutes — from one-time email blasts to personalised automations — expanding customer reach and helping sellers gain key business insights with analytics. 

Businesses can also now build a loyalty program in minutes with the launch of Square Loyalty. This new to market tool can help turn one-time visitors into regulars and increase repeat visits. It’s easy to set up a customised loyalty program that rewards customers both in-store and online. 

“Square is helping its sellers bring more value to their customers by expanding the ecosystem of products and services in the UK,” said Saumil Mehta, General Manager of Customers and Square Point of Sale. “Sellers are increasingly turning to Square as the one-stop-shop to run every part of their business, from payments and online commerce to inventory, team management, loyalty programs and more. We’re excited to be helping them on the road to recovery with the addition of these new tools that help sellers retain and re-engage their customers.”

This double-product launch aims to further level the playing field for businesses of all types and sizes, as it provides all businesses with easy-to-use, powerful marketing tools that have typically only been used by big businesses. Along with Square products already available to UK sellers like Gift Cards, Square Marketing and Square Loyalty provide a whole suite of customer capability products that enable sellers to build the entire consumer lifecycle in one place.

“Square Marketing has helped us to streamline how we stay in touch with our clients,” said Jack Wicks, Founder of Wicks Barbershop. “As a barber, we’re always striving to increase our returning customer base. Using Square Marketing’s easy-to-use email builder and customer directory, we stayed top-of-mind by sending the latest news and offers to our client base. In particular, we love the automatic email campaign feature – which helps us communicate with our clients at the moments that matter most.”

Square Marketing key features:

• Drive buyer engagement & ROI – Square Marketing offers businesses a powerful tool to help grow their customer base, drive repeat visits, and increase buyer spend. 
• Plan ahead, automate, and send – Businesses can schedule or immediately send emails to customers by leveraging Square Marketing’s automation capabilities, saving them time and effort.
• Measure campaign results – Real-time tracking is available in the Square Marketing Dashboard around active campaigns, open and click through rates, as well as attributable sales.

“Square Loyalty has made managing our loyalty programme a lot easier,” said Darren Richards, Founder of Montego Food Market. “As it works both in-store and online, our customers never miss a chance to earn and redeem points – this really helps us to drive repeat business to the store.”

Square Loyalty key features:

• Enable omnichannel selling – Square Loyalty allows businesses to reward customers wherever they choose to purchase, whether that’s in-store or online.
• Drive visits and sales – Businesses can encourage repeat customers through the implementation of a loyalty program.
• Fully integrated –Square Loyalty is built into businesses point-of-sale and website with no extra devices, logins, or paper punch cards needed.

“It’s been a challenging couple of years for businesses and it’s more important than ever for sellers to stand out from competitors and see the impact on their business,” said Lizzie Barclay, Head of UK Marketing at Square. “We’ve seen the demand for tools like Square Loyalty and Square Marketing build up for a while and we’re delighted to be launching them into such an innovative and savvy market.” 

To find out more about Square Marketing businesses can visit https://squareup.com/gb/en/software/marketing and for Square Loyalty https://squareup.com/gb/en/software/loyalty 

Aiimi will build on its successful client base – including Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, and BEIS – to deliver next generation data science and analytics platforms to Databricks’ customers.

Milton Keynes & London – 20 October 2021 – AI and data specialist Aiimi has formed a partnership with enterprise software company Databricks, formalising a three-year-long collaborative relationship.

Through a combination of Aiimi’s data and delivery expertise and Databricks’ Lakehouse Platform, the consultative agreement will unlock crucial data-driven value for users across the firms’ shared client base.

As a Microsoft Gold Certified partner, Aiimi’s team of Microsoft Azure experts offer full support to a broad spectrum of businesses choosing to migrate their data and information from traditional data warehouses to Azure cloud-based lakehouses, such as the Databricks Lakehouse Platform which unifies data, analytics, and AI .

Integrating data teams with an open, scalable, and unified data analytics system, the Databricks Lakehouse Platform helps organisations streamline analytics, AI, and business intelligence (BI). By consolidating data engineering, data science, ML, and analytics into one collaborative and simplified system, users can build solutions together, accelerating teamwork, innovation, and the customer journey.

Since 2018, Aiimi and Databricks have combined their respective offerings, working together on advanced analytics and data platform projects with customers such as Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

At Anglian Water, the collaboration rapidly brought together structured, unstructured, and streaming data into one secure data lake platform. By powering self-service analytics and equipping data science teams with trusted datasets to power AI and ML use cases, Anglian Water realised its visionary data strategy. Benefits across the business ranged from telematics (health and safety through safer driving), storage points analysis (ensuring a consistent water supply to consumers, and avoiding interruption to service), and leakage prediction (reducing leakage and fines, saving water, and meeting leakage performance targets outlined by the regulator) through to smart meter data analysis.

Data was spread across several systems at Northumbrian Water, hampering its potential to resolve pain points across the customer journey – and achieve its strategic data-led objectives. Aiimi’s expert Azure team stepped in, setting up an Azure cloud-based architecture underpinned by Databricks. Unifying existing data into the Databricks Lakehouse Platform empowered Northumbrian Water to create predictive models for its customer journey. Establishing a Customer Experience Digital Twin supported resource management analysis during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping the organisation to maintain services with a reduced workforce.

At BEIS, Aiimi and Databricks built a new Grants Data Management System leveraging Delta Lake on Databricks’ storage layer to capture, store, and securely progress grant return data for the COVID-19 business support grants and Green Homes Grant. The solution has dramatically reduced the time taken for BEIS data scientists, analysts, and statisticians to collect and analyse this data – and will eventually supply insights to more than 300 local authorities across the UK.

“At Aiimi, we believe organisations are better able to achieve their business goals by successfully operationalising their data into capability and insights,” said Richard Lewis, Channel Sales Director at Aiimi. “Our consulting partnership will ensure continued collaboration between Aiimi and Databricks, delivering successful analytics and insight-driven business outcomes for our joint customers.”

“The ability to uncover actionable insights from data has never been more important, as enterprises look to adapt, innovate, and better prepare for a secure future in an uncertain world,” said Kim Nash, Director of Strategic Partners, at Databricks. “We’re excited to be working with Aiimi, because they successfully leverage the power of our lakehouse platform to help organisations solve their most challenging problems with data. We look forward to seeing the value that this partnership will deliver to our joint customers.”

North west based Digital Marketing Agency, Aqueous Digital has helped charity Speed of Sight provide a once in a lifetime experience for blind and disabled people to be able to race round the legendary Silverstone circuit in Northamptonshire.

Speed of Sight are a unique charity that offer adrenaline fuelled race car driving for blind, partially sighted and wheelchair users of all ages. Their founder, Mike Newman who was born completely blind, is a nine times World Record Holder and currently the fastest blind man on land and water on the planet.

Earlier this month, Speed of Sight’s dreams came true when they were given the opportunity to hold one of their events at the iconic Silverstone racing circuit, the home of Formula One and The British Grand Prix.

John Galloway, who co-founded of Speed of Sight with Mike Newman said: ”It’s amazing what you can achieve in life, with the right attitude and a little help from friends and supporters such as Aqueous Digital and others. Together, you can make the Impossible possible.”

“Ten years ago Mike and I came up with the concept of providing driving experiences for the blind and disabled. So many said “that’s a crazy idea, it will never take off. Too dangerous, especially for people with disabilities.” But we proved them all wrong, and here we are at the legendary Silverstone. It’s such a proud moment for us all.”

Aqueous Digital, an award-winning digital agency based in Cheshire has been a long-time supporter of the charity. They help them with their online advertising, as well as being a member of their corporate supporters ‘Inspire 25’ club.

Aqueous’ Sales Director, Ian Bold is currently undertaking his own mammoth sports challenge, by running 10km every day of this year to raise funds for the charity. As he nears close to his 300th 10k run, he’s hoping to raise over £3,000 by New Year’s Eve to help fund more track day events put on by Speed of Sight.

Both Ian and Marketing Manager, Kristian Bentham, from Aqueous went down to Silverstone to help on the day. They were joined by a host of other volunteers and corporate supporters, along with Lewis Hamilton’s brother Nick Hamilton who is an ambassador for the charity.

Nick was the first disabled driver to compete in the British Touring Car Championships back in 2015. He drove round Silverstone with a blindfold over his eyes to gain a better understanding of what it is like for those drivers who are blind or partially sighted.

He said: “It’s the best experience I’ve ever had in a race car, I had full trust in my instructor Martin who I go way back with, so it was great to be on comms with him. And obviously I know Silverstone, I was racing here two weeks ago so that’s a help for me… but it was amazing, I wanted to carry on to be fair.”

All participants are able to drive the cars themselves, although in everyday life their disabilities prevent them from holding a driving licence. The charity has specially designed vehicles with dual controls, allowing people of any age or ability to experience the thrill of being behind the wheel on a racetrack.

Ian Bold, Sales Director at Aqueous said: “It’s fantastic to be able to volunteer and raise money for such a worthwhile cause. Helping out at Speed of Sight’s track days really hammers home the difference the charity is making to people’s lives, especially when you see the exhilaration and excitement on participant’s faces. I wholeheartedly encourage other businesses to get involved by joining their Inspire 25 Club.”

To support Speed of Sight, you can donate on the Aqueous Digital Just Giving page at: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/6-month-running-challenge. Charitable donations are being split equally between Speed of Sight and another of Aqueous Digital’s chosen charities, Prevent Breast Cancer.

Watch the video of Ian Bold and Speed of Sight’s John Galloway discussing the impact of Aqueous Digital’s support for the charity: https://youtu.be/dsRvYYaBcLQ

Learn more about Speed of Sight and joining their Inspire 25 Club on their website: https://www.speedofsight.org/

Find out more about Digital Marketing Agency, Aqueous Digital http://www.aqueous-digital.co.uk

By Giulio Piovaccari and Giuseppe Fonte

MILAN/ROME (Reuters) – Rome is drawing up an offer to try to convince Intel to invest billions of euros in an advanced chipmaking plant in Italy, as Germany emerges as frontrunner to land an even bigger megafactory planned by the U.S. company, three sources said.

The plants would be part of a drive by the U.S. group to build cutting-edge manufacturing capacity in Europe to help avoid future supply shortages of the kind currently crippling the automotive industry in particular.

Rome is already in talks with Intel about the potential investment, which according to preliminary estimates would be worth more than 4 billion euro ($4.7 billion), the sources who are involved in the discussions said.

One of them said the total could even reach around 8 billion euros, depending on Intel’s plans.

They declined to be identified because the details are confidential.

Rome is ready to fund part of the overall investment with public money and offer favourable terms to Intel, including on labour and energy costs, the sources said.

The factory would create more than 1,000 direct jobs in Italy, they added.

“The government is preparing a very detailed offer with the aim of clinching a deal by the end of the year,” one of the sources told Reuters.

“Discussions with Intel are at an advanced stage. There is no deal yet, but if the government works hard on this it has a good chance of bringing the plant to Italy.”

Potential sites include Turin’s Mirafiori area, the Italian home of carmaker Stellantis, and Catania in Sicily, where French-Italian chipmaker STMicroelectronics already operates, the sources said.

Intel declined to comment on its plans.

The U.S. group’s biggest project in Europe is a planned megafactory, where Dresden in Germany has emerged as a leading candidate site, the sources said. They are not directly involved in talks about the choice of site for the megafactory.

No final decision has been made for either site and plans could change in the coming weeks, the sources said.

FROM U.S. TO EU

The Italian factory would be an “advanced packaging” plant that uses new technologies to weave together full chips out of tiles produced by Intel and other chipmakers, the sources said.

Intel is using the technology to draw in new customers such as Amazon.com Inc’s cloud computing unit, but its only sites are in the United States.

France is also seen as contender for the megafactory, while Italy faces competition from Poland, where Intel also has a presence, for the packaging facility.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said last month the company would announce the locations of two major new EU chip fabrication plants by year-end as it looks to spend 80 billion euros over the next decade on the continent.

CHIPS ARE DOWN

The plans come as the European Union aims to reduce its dependence on semiconductor supplies from the United States and China, and the chip supply crisis shows no signs of abating.

Chipmakers are scrambling to boost output after the work-from-home trend during the pandemic led to explosive demand for consumer electronics such as smartphones and computers.

The shortages have hit the automotive industry – a major pillar of the European economy – the hardest, as chipmakers have generally preferred consumer electronics customers because they buy more advanced, higher-margin chips.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said this week the EU needed to act “now and decisively” to increase output to meet its target of producing 20% of the world’s semiconductor output by 2030.

“China and the U.S. are already investing tens of billions each in this sector,” he said.

Still, building the megafactory and packaging plant will take years and is unlikely to help European automakers in the short term.

For that, Gelsinger has said Intel plans to reserve capacity at its chip factory in Ireland for automakers and help them shift to using its technology, but that too could take time.

GERMANY IN THE LEAD

Talks could speed up after a new government is formed in Germany, following September’s federal elections.

The EU’s biggest economy, with a large car industry, is in the lead to land the “megafab” plant, the sources said, though France remains in the running.

One of the sources said Italy also had “cards to play” to obtain a research centre, which is another part of the overall investment Intel is preparing for Europe.

($1 = 0.8593 euros)

(Additional reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco and Angelo Amante in Rome; Writing by Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Josephine Mason and Mark Potter)

By Manas Mishra and Julie Steenhuysen

(Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday recommended the COVID-19 vaccine boosters for recipients of the Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson shots, and said Americans can choose a different shot from their original inoculation as a booster.

CDC director Rochelle Walensky signed off on the recommendations late on Thursday, aligning the agency with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s authorization https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-fda-clears-moderna-jj-boosters-backs-mix-and-match-strategy-2021-10-20 on Wednesday for the additional boosters and “mix-and-match” dosing.

Walensky said that vaccines authorized in the United States “are all highly effective in reducing the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death, even in the midst of the widely circulating Delta variant” of the coronavirus.

A panel of advisers to the CDC had unanimously backed COVID-19 vaccine boosters earlier on Thursday.

Still, health officials and public health experts said the booster rollout could be confusing.

The panel struggled with trying to make the language of its recommendations as clear as possible, and also offer flexibility for patients to get a vaccine of their choice.

“A really important aspect of all of this is being clear and not dancing on the head of a pin, so that we don’t further confuse the American people,” said Dr. Beth Bell, a panel member and clinical professor in the department of global health at the University of Washington in Seattle.

The recommendations also open the door for recipients of the one-shot J&J vaccine to get a dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines that have been shown to afford greater protection in a variety of studies.

Although these vaccines have been highly effective in preventing serious illness and death, some government scientists have suggested that boosters are needed to keep immunity high, especially as the extremely contagious Delta variant can cause breakthrough infections among some who are fully vaccinated.

ACIP voted to recommend booster doses for everyone 18 and older who received a first dose of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine at least two months earlier.

For those who received their second dose of Moderna’s vaccine at least six months earlier, ACIP recommended a third shot for those age 65 and over, as well as some individuals at risk or severe illness and those at high risk of exposure to the virus through their jobs.

Dr. Helen Talbot, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University and a panel member, said she voted for the recommendation, but cautioned, “Moderna has very good vaccine efficacy. There will be some confusion with the higher versus lower dose.”

Booster doses of the Moderna vaccine will be 50 micrograms, half the strength of the original shots.

“Those not at high risk should be really thoughtful about getting the higher dose. I do think we need to be very aware of potential complications.”

Experts said communicating those risks could be an issue, especially given the flexibility of allowing people to choose a different vaccine from their original series.

“At the end of the day, even that phrase ‘mix and match’ pretty much gives people the latitude to … do pretty much anything,” Glen Nowak, a risk communication professor at the University of Georgia and former communications director for CDC’s National Immunization Program said after the meeting. “I think that’s going to be an issue.”

The FDA and CDC previously signed off on booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech SE for the same groups included in the Moderna recommendations.

Pfizer released data on Thursday suggesting that a booster dose was highly protective for those age 16 and older compared with protection nearly a year after receiving the two-dose regimen due to waning efficacy over time.

About 11.6 million people have so far received a booster dose, according to data from the CDC https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations_vacc-total-admin-rate-total.

The FDA and CDC have been under pressure to authorize the additional shots after the White House announced plans in August for a widespread booster campaign.

Other countries such as Israel have begun offering boosters to a broad population, but it is not yet known whether the United States will follow suit.

(Reporting by Manas Mishra in Bengaluru and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Additional reporting by Ann Maria Shibu; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Grant McCool)

By Hanna Rantala

LONDON (Reuters) – When British pop band Duran Duran made their debut, they did not know how long they would last. But 40 years on, the new wave group are still going strong, releasing their 15th studio album, “Future Past”, on Friday.

“We would never have expected to be still making music together after all this time. We were just kids and we came together in punk rock,” bassist John Taylor told Reuters.

“(In) the late 70s where nobody was thinking long term, it was like, could we just play next year?”

Formed by Taylor and keyboardist Nick Rhodes in 1978, Duran Duran rose to fame with hits such as “Girls on Film” and “Rio”.

The band, with lead singer Simon Le Bon and drummer Roger Taylor, has sold more than 100 million records worldwide and won two Grammy Awards.

Their new song “Anniversary” celebrates the 40 years since they released their first album in 1981.

“‘Anniversary’ is a song that kind of celebrates the time that we’ve been together as a band, but it’s also open to everybody and anything anyone might want to celebrate,” Taylor said.

For their new release, the band collaborated with producers Erol Alkan and Giorgio Moroder, while Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, Japanese punk band CHAI and rapper Ivorian Doll, among others, feature in an eclectic mix of tracks.

“We set our parameters very broadly from the very beginning. Our first album had dance songs on it … but it also had a six, seven minute instrumental with an orchestra and some darker songs,” Rhodes said.

“We always feel comfortable trying out different things in different genres musically.”

The group began work on the album in late 2018 and worked on it sporadically in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic forced them to stop for about 10 months.

“In some ways it was actually advantageous to have had a break because we’d never had that experience before, and we could look at it with fresh eyes and listen with fresh ears,” Rhodes said. “It’s got a whole new feel for us.”

(Reporting by Hanna Rantala; Writing by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Alison Williams)

Collaborative robots could help tackle a looming labour shortage in UK warehouses by addressing the barriers deterring people from working in the sector, according to a new survey by fulfilment solutions provider 6 River Systems.   

The labour shortage is already impacting the hospitality and logistics sectors due to EU nationals returning to their home countries as a result of a combination of Brexit and Covid-19 and an ageing national population means there are fewer potential workers able to undertake physical work. These factors will leave the sector less able to recruit workers to fulfil the booming demand for e-commerce sales. 

UKHospitality, a trade body, said in May that the sector had a shortfall of 188,000 workers, while in the same month the job seeker website Adzuna noted a 36 per cent increase in job ads for the logistics and warehouse sector since March.   

The survey by 6 River Systems, which makes Chuck, a collaborative picking robot, suggests that people are put off working in warehouses and fulfilment centres by the physical nature of the work, which often involves pushing a heavy trolley for miles each day to pick or pack items. The physical nature of the work was also cited by 14 per cent of respondents as a reason why they would not work in a warehouse at any stage of their career. For nine per cent of respondents, the perceived reading and maths skills required prevented them from considering such a role.   

Meanwhile, many employees in the sector are unhappy in their roles and few see themselves doing similar work for the rest of their career, suggesting that there will be a decline to the existing workforce in the near future. Just eight per cent of warehouse or fulfilment centre workers said that they could definitely see themselves continuing in that sort of role until they retired. Twenty-one per cent said that the work would be too physical.   

However, around a third (32 per cent) of respondents who didn’t work in a warehouse or fulfilment centre said that they might or would consider working in one if such barriers could be overcome, offering some hope for the sector. Twelve per cent of women were in this category, along with around 17 per cent of people approaching retirement aged 55-64.   

The survey of current and former warehouse and fulfilment centre workers, as well as those who had considered work in the sector, revealed that they were unhappy in their jobs for a variety of reasons, with key complaints including the physical nature of the job, being short-staffed and pressure to work faster. Only 15 per cent said that they really enjoyed their roles.   

When asked whether they would welcome collaborative picking robots with artificial intelligence and machine learning to make the work less physical and reduce the amount of walking required by directing the worker to the shortest routes, 35 per cent of those currently or previously working in a warehouse said that this would help. This was either because the job was physical, their work left them very tired or because their employer was short-staffed.   

Eleven per cent said they had had an accident involving a trolley at work, of which three per cent had to take time off work.   

Simon Jones, Solutions Executive UK & Ireland at 6 River Systems, said: “It’s clear from this survey that the physical nature of work in warehouses and fulfilment centres makes it hard to attract and retain the employees required to support the boom we are seeing in e-commerce. The survey also shows that many people working in the sector would welcome collaborative picking robots such as those made by 6 River Systems, which can ease the physical burden on employees and open up a much wider potential labour pool to help alleviate the expected labour shortage in the sector.”   

6 River Systems asked 161 people who had worked or considered working in a warehouse or fulfilment centre a series of questions between Monday June 21 and Monday June 28 2021 via a Google Survey. The questions targeted men and women of working age living across the UK.   

Read the full report at https://info.6river.com/can-robots-help-uk-warehouse-labour-shortage. 

– Investment follows growth during Covid and major client wins –

 
19th October 2021, London: Event tech scale-up, HeadBox, has finalised a £2 million fundraise led by Deepbridge Capital, bringing their total funding to £13.2 million.
 
This investment will help HeadBox to accelerate out of the pandemic, fueling its previous 100% year-on-year growth as well as see the company through to profitability. The next-generation meetings and events platform, already live in all major UK cities as well as in Australia, Ireland and the Netherlands will also use the funds to launch in the USA.

Deepbridge Capital’s funding for Headbox was provided via the Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS fund.
 
Adrian Neilan, COO and Investment Director at Deepbridge Capital commented:
“We have been impressed by the HeadBox management team, their business model, their market-leading software products, Lead Feed and Smart Book, and their strong, growing customer base. We believe the Company, with our capital and support, has significant growth potential as it continues to disrupt the events sector. It is innovative and growth-focused companies, like HeadBox, which the Enterprise Investment Scheme is designed to support.”
 
HeadBox was one of a minority of live events businesses that grew during 2020. As live events are now returning, the company has already doubled its team from 28 to 52 people during the past three months.
 
Andrew Needham, HeadBox’s CEO and Founder explained;
“HeadBox is on a mission to reinvent the global events industry through technology. The global pandemic has accelerated the need for digital transformation and with it, the need for our software has become a ‘must’, not just a ‘nice to have.’ Covid has brought additional complexities and considerations to the events sector, resulting in major corporations now having to do more than ever before but potentially with fewer people and less budget.”

He continued: “We are very focused on ensuring our software helps both our corporate clients and our host venues create greater efficiencies within the increasingly complex event booking process. This is why, during the pandemic, we beat traditional agency incumbents to win significant multi-year contracts from FTSE 100 companies in the media, professional services and FMCG sectors.”