Category: 3. Business

This successful start-up represents a major step forward for Arkema, as the new unit triples the Group’s global production capacity of Rilsan^® Clear transparent polyamide. This investment of around US$20 million, announced in July 2025, is part of the major growth projects in which Arkema has recently invested to support its strategic roadmap on Specialty Materials.

Designed for operational excellence and reliability, this new unit will enable Arkema to meet the growing demand for sustainable high-performance transparent materials across key markets such as eyewear, AR/VR and smart consumer electronics, industrial filtration, healthcare devices and home appliances.

Homes England, alongside HSBC and NatWest, will provide Allison Homes, a fast-growing regional homebuilder, with a £165 million finance facility to support its continued expansion across the East of England, the Midlands and Southwest. 

The refinancing package marks a significant milestone in the company’s growth strategy, enabling it to accelerate land acquisition and development and increase the supply of affordable, high-quality homes across its regions. 

Simon Century, Chief Investment Officer at Homes England, said: 

Small and medium housebuilders play a vital role in building a diverse and resilient housing sector. Funding from Homes England will enable Allison Homes to expand its regional delivery, supporting the construction of more high quality, affordable homes. 

This financing deal is a prime example of how the Agency works collaboratively with both public and private partners to achieve our mission of building thriving communities that people can be proud to call home.

Ian Trinder, Chief Financial Officer of Allison Homes, said: 

This is a very exciting moment for our business as it shows real confidence from strong funding partners in our long-term growth plans. Regional homebuilders, like Allison Homes, play a crucial role in delivering the housing needed to meet local and national demand, while also investing in infrastructure, creating jobs and supporting the local economy. 

Importantly, this financial package means we can continue our ambitious growth trajectory, whilst focusing on what matters most – building high-quality homes, creating places people are proud to live in, and being the homebuilder that people can trust. 

Over the past year, we’ve taken decisive steps to strengthen the business for the long term – investing heavily in land, regional growth, operational infrastructure, systems and our people. We’ve also grown unit sales from 626 to 808 and revenue from £154 million to £202 million, with a significant focus on recurring partnership revenue alongside open market sales. 

Delivering this during a challenging economic period has been no small task, and we’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved to date. The country continues to face a significant housing shortfall, and our sector has an important responsibility to help address it.” 

HSBC and NatWest have worked with Allison Homes for a number of years, and Homes England is joining alongside the existing lenders to provide further growth capital for the business as it enters a new period of growth, supported by a strong pipeline of consented sites. 

Financing will be provided by the Home Building Fund, which is designed to support SME housebuilders to overcome funding barriers in order to build homes more quickly.  

The loan will be utilised to bring forward a strong land pipeline and support the growth of two newer regions in the South West and East Midlands. The objective of this is to take delivery from around 700 homes a year, predominantly from the East Division, to around 2000 homes over the term of the loan. 

Allison Homes has an extensive development pipeline, underpinned by a land acquisition strategy balanced between partnerships and open market homes, following the expansion of its partnerships division. The homebuilder has also recently opened offices in Bristol and the East Midlands and acquired its largest site yet – a 510 home development in a prime Bristol location. 

Mark Pope, Director at NatWest Real Estate Finance, said:  

We are delighted to continue to be able to support Allison Homes with this facility to help them achieve their future growth plans, delivering much needed additional housing. NatWest has a long history of supporting the residential market across all tenures, and this transaction is another example of how we provide execution excellence, delivering optimal funding solutions alongside our lending partners.

Joe Bailey, Relationship Director, HSBC Real Estate Finance, said:  

HSBC UK is pleased to continue supporting Allison Homes at a pivotal stage in its growth journey. This new financing package reflects our confidence in the strength of the business, its management team and its commitment to delivering high-quality homes across the regions it serves.

Completion of the facility took place on 18 December 2025. 

ENDS 

Notes to editors   

• Homes England is the government’s housing and regeneration Agency, and we’re here to drive the creation of more affordable, quality homes and thriving places so that everyone has a place to live and grow.  We make this happen by working in partnership with thousands of organisations of all sizes, using our powers, expertise, land, capital and influence to bring investment to communities and get more quality homes built.  View our explainer animation: Homes England 2025 Animation.
• Financial support for the housebuilding sector will be strengthened further with the launch of the new National Housing Bank, a subsidiary of Homes England, in April 2026. See our investment road map here.
• For more information on Homes England’s financial support for the SME housebuilding sector, visit The Home Building Fund — lending and investments to support housebuilding – GOV.UK

Discover how artificial intelligence is reshaping drug discovery, clinical trials, and regulatory processes – and what leaders must do to scale its impact.

The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry faces persistent challenges in research and development (R&D): high drug development costs, elevated clinical failure rates, and declining returns on investment. These hurdles have made it increasingly difficult to bring successful new drugs to market.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing that. The technology is emerging as a powerful catalyst for breakthroughs in biopharma R&D – streamlining discovery, optimizing trial design, and enabling predictive insights – and it’s now poised to bring biopharma R&D more agile, data-driven, and outcome-oriented processes.

The latest report from the Capgemini Research Institute, Smart bet, only option, or both?: Biopharma R&D turns to AI, explores how advances in biology, physics, and computational power are converging to enable this transformation now. Biopharma organizations are recognizing this potential; our global survey of 500 senior executives across eight countries reveals:

• 82% believe AI will fundamentally transform biopharma R&D
• 63% agree that companies failing to scale AI will fall behind in innovation and market relevance
• 63% anticipate that most new molecular entities (NMEs) will originate from AI-driven platforms within the next decade.

The research also shows that organizations are already realizing benefits related to:

• Drug discovery: 74% see significant potential in generative AI. Target identification is the most widely adopted use case, with 43% implementing it and reporting an average 28% time savings.
• Clinical trials: Over 60% affirm that Gen AI can substantially improve trial efficiency and outcomes.
• Regulatory submissions: 73% agree Gen AI can fundamentally transform regulatory workflows. Among adopters, productivity gains average 19% time savings.

Yet despite this progress, challenges remain. Having established foundational data capabilities, many organizations still lack data readiness and operational maturity to scale AI effectively. To unlock AI’s full potential, biopharma leaders must address these gaps by:

• Securing senior leadership buy-in
• Defining clear goals and risk profiles
• Balancing in-house capabilities with strategic partnerships
• Building a data- and digital-savvy workforce
• Advocating for industry-wide data standards.

Smart bet, only option, or both?: Biopharma R&D turns to AI is intended for C-suite executives and senior leaders in global pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations, offering clear recommendations to help them understand the benefits that AI can bring to the drug discovery and development process.

To discover how large and mid-sized biopharma organizations can implement AI and scale their AI use cases, download the full report today.

An online fashion retailer accused of “unconscionable conduct” is under investigation for allegedly profiting off the Bondi terror attack.

NSW Fair Trading issued a public warning about “ghost store” Isla & James, which said it was holding a closure sale due to the mass shooting on December 14 and made “false claims” about being based in Bondi Beach.

The site claimed one of the co-founders, James, was “shot” in the massacre and there was no “moving on” after the shooting.

NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Natasha Mann said the agency now believed it was a “ghost store operating from overseas”.

“We think they’re using the Bondi Beach terror attack to really try and exploit the grief of our community to try and profiteer,” she said.

Samia Goudie was one of the customers who was duped by Isla & James last month, after coming across an emotionally-charged advertisement on Facebook.

They emphasised the business, once their “dream”, was closing down that night and the prices had been slashed so they could “start out [their] new lives”. The site also featured an an AI-generated image of the pair.

“Looking back, if it hadn’t had that emotional hook, I probably wouldn’t have looked at it,” she said.

Ms Goudie said she did “periphery checks” but the site looked “sophisticated”, with a map pinned to Bondi and a correlating Instagram page.

She spent $250 in her order, saying she did not “have the ability really to spend a lot of money” but wanted to support a good cause.

Ms Goudie even emailed the store to express her sympathy and when they replied to say they were not closing down at all, the first red flag went off.

The order has not been sent out, and she later found out the items were likely from an e-commerce platform.

“It wasn’t even like for myself, like, I’ve fallen for this. That was much later, you know, how stupid am I? … I felt like an idiot.

“It’s just a reminder to people … to double-check what they’re donating to.”

Concern others ‘may take similar approach’

The website appears to have been registered on December 23 from an IP address in Arizona, in the United States.

NSW Fair Trading said there was no contact number or trading address in the state, “nor any other evidence that the store is associated with a trader at Bondi Beach”.

Other warning signs for ghost stores can include no Australian address, no phone number or “.au” domain, or if the ABN cannot be verified.

Ms Mann is now warning the public about dealing with Isla & James, who she said may have engaged in a range of contraventions of Australian consumer law, including “misleading or deceptive conduct” and “unconscionable conduct in connection with the sale and supply of goods”.

She said ghost stores could claim to be closing down due to a tragedy to pressure people into buying goods, but were often selling low-quality goods or sometimes, nothing at all.

“These ghost stores often are using really emotional stories to try and get consumers to rush into a purchase,” she said.

“The difficulty is that the operations are based overseas to avoid returns and refunds, which means that consumers are left in the lurch.”

Its website has now been taken down in a “welcome outcome”, but NSW Fair Trading has warned the retailer may crop up again under a different URL or “other traders may take a similar approach”. 

“Our investigation will focus on making sure that this one remains shut down and actively monitoring to make sure that others do not arise also,” Ms Mann said.

“The main message to consumers is just really be vigilant when you’re engaging with online traders.”

President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Daniel Aghion, said at a time Jewish businesses were facing “victimisation and attacks” as well as closures, it was “callous that somebody somewhere in the world [was] trying to make money off the misery of others”. 

“I feel for the shoppers that genuinely tried to support Bondi traders and victims of Bondi, but ended up being deceived.”

NSW Fair Trading has urged anyone who was not satisfied with their interaction with Isla & James to lodge a complaint with them or Service NSW.

It said any suspicious stores, fundraisers or offers linked to the Bondi attack should also be reported to Scamwatch. 

A new 50 pence coin celebrating 50 years since Concorde’s first commercial flight has been launched by the Royal Mint.

Unveiled at the aircraft’s current home, the Aerospace Bristol Museum, the reverse or ‘tails’ side of the coin portrays the aircraft in flight, against a backdrop of a split-flap departure board, with the word Concorde appearing across the centre.

The supersonic aircraft made its first commercial flight on 21 January 1976.

Former chief engineer of Concorde John Britton said: “To celebrate Concorde on an official UK coin is a proud moment for everyone who dedicated their careers to keeping her in the sky.”

Amsterdam, 13 January 2026 – Arcadis N.V. (Arcadis), the world’s leading company delivering data-driven sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets, repurchased 461,483 of its own shares in the period 5 – 9 January 2026 at an average price of €36.56. The total consideration of this repurchase was €16,873,986.

The total number of shares repurchased under this program to date is 4,141,810 shares for a total consideration of €158,797,681 at an average price of €38.34.

The repurchase is in accordance with the share buyback program to reduce the capital of Arcadis, as announced on 1 October 2025.

Overviews of all transactions under this program are published in weekly press releases and on the website of Arcadis.