The plant produces key body components and sub-assemblies such as doors and bonnets

Swindon’s MINI factory has announced a new partnership with global logistics giant GXO. BMW Group has appointed the US-headquartered company to manage operations at the site on Bridge End Road. The Wiltshire plant produces parts and panels for cars that are then assembled at its group facility in Oxford and at other international facilities within its network.

Under the new partnership, GXO will lead the warehouse operations of car parts in Swindon, making use of BMW Group’s supply chain.

“We’re excited to begin this new chapter with BMW Group at their facility in Swindon,” said Martin Cooper, managing director for technology and consumer goods at GXO UK&I. “We’ve seen great success applying smart logistics solutions across a range of industries, and we look forward to driving efficiencies, strengthening resilience and building a future-proof platform for growth for BMW Group.”

It is understood GXO will look to roll out “smarter processes” as well as upgrade technology and optimise the plant layout in a bid to boost efficiency. The idea, the company said, is to help the Swindon site to meet evolving production needs of the Oxfordshire factory.

The Swindon site, which employs 500 staff and spans 425,000 sq m, has been a cornerstone of UK automotive manufacturing since 1955.

It plays a vital role in the global production network for cars, manufacturing key body components and sub-assemblies such as doors, bonnets, tailgates and fenders for MINI vehicles, including the MINI Cooper 3 and 5 door hatch and the MINI convertible.

In 2024, GXO completed a £762m takeover of nearby Chippenham-based logistics group Wincanton. Last year, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced an investigation into the acquisition. According, to the UK government website, that investigation is still ongoing.

Malcolm Wilson, chief executive officer of GXO, previously said: “The combination of GXO and Wincanton will enhance GXO’s offering for customers across the UK and Ireland and bring presence in strategic verticals that will serve as a springboard for growth.”

Tangible, a fintech platform focused on helping hardtech companies access and manage structured debt financing, has raised a $4.3 million seed round as it looks to modernise how capital-intensive businesses fund growth.

The round was led by Pale Blue Dot, with participation from MMC, Future Positive Capital, Unruly, SDAC, Prototype Capital and Aperture. The funding will be used to scale Tangible’s team and deepen automation across its platform.

Hardtech companies, spanning sectors such as energy, transport, advanced manufacturing and compute infrastructure, are increasingly seen as central to tackling some of the biggest macroeconomic challenges of the coming decades. BlackRock estimates that $68 trillion of new infrastructure investment will be required by 2040 to meet global demand.

Yet despite renewed interest in physical innovation, financing remains a major bottleneck. Traditional venture capital models often struggle to support asset-heavy businesses, which typically require large amounts of upfront capital. As a result, many early-stage hardtech companies rely on expensive equity funding to finance capital expenditure, increasing dilution and, in some cases, threatening long-term viability.

At the same time, private credit, now a $3.5 trillion market, is increasingly well positioned to meet this demand. However, deploying debt capital efficiently into hardtech remains complex and resource-intensive, particularly for lenders reliant on bespoke documentation and manual processes.

Tangible was founded to address this gap. Its AI-powered platform standardises the data, documentation and ongoing reporting required by lenders, reducing underwriting time and costs while enabling founders to run structured debt facilities without building in-house finance teams.

Hampus Jakobson, general partner at Pale Blue Dot, said: “Most of the innovations shaping the future, from vehicles and data centres to robotics, are fundamentally physical, and they shouldn’t be financed by venture equity alone. Tangible opens up new financing options for hardtech businesses, and we strongly believe in the team’s vision to bridge this structural gap.”

William Godfrey, co-founder and chief executive of Tangible, said demand for physical assets was accelerating as governments and businesses push reindustrialisation, energy security and technological sovereignty. “As hardtech companies scale at speed, investors need modern infrastructure to deploy capital just as fast,” he said.

“Legacy processes based on bespoke documentation and manual coordination no longer cut it. Tangible provides the financial infrastructure that makes hardtech easier to diligence for institutional credit, allowing companies to raise asset-backed financing faster and with less friction.”

The company said the new funding would support the build-out of automation across collaboration, diligence and reporting workflows, helping to reduce transaction costs and shorten time-to-close for both founders and lenders.

For hardtech firms facing mounting capital pressures, Tangible is positioning debt as a viable alternative to either heavy dilution, or failure.

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Mumbai: Analysts are mixed about recommending retail investors to participate in BHEL‘s ₹4,422 crore offer for sale (OFS), with views split between caution over valuation and orderbook optimism. Brokerages broadly agree that investors with a medium to long term horizon may find merit in bidding in the share sale. Short term investors, however, are unlikely to see any immediate upside, with the OFS itself not expected to serve as a near term rerating catalyst.

The retail tranche of the two day share sale will open for bids on Thursday after the non retail portion was subscribed 2.3 times on Wednesday, the first day of the issue. Bids were placed for more than 22 crore shares against the 9.4 crore on the block, prompting the government to activate the green shoe option.

The stock fell 5.6% to ₹260 on Wednesday after the floor price was set at ₹254 per share compared with its Tuesday closing price of ₹276, implying an approximate 8% discount.

JM Financial said the floor price in the OFS valued the stock attractively, and maintained a buy rating with a target price of ₹355 per share, valuing the company at 30 times FY28 estimated earnings.

The government is offloading up to 5% of its stake in BHEL via the two day OFS. Post the stake sale, the government will hold 58.17% in the company.

“The OFS appears more of a divestment exercise than a fundamental rerating trigger,” said Divyam Mour, research analyst at Samco Securities. “While the offer appears optically attractive, valuation and execution realities warrant careful consideration. We recommend only staggered participation for long term investors.”
BHEL’s order book has swelled from ₹89,813 crore in FY21 to ₹2,19,600 crore in H1FY26, lifting its book to bill ratio to 7.2 times amid a revival in thermal and infrastructure capex, he said. “At a trailing P/E (Price to Earnings) ratio of 108 times, the stock is pricing in meaningful operating leverage, sustained order inflows, and structural improvement in profitability,” said Mour. BHEL shares have risen over 30% in the past year, as against the 17% advance in the BSE Capital Goods Index.

Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Investments, said the OFS is attractive for retail investors on a long term basis. “The stock is currently trading at a 1-year forward P/S (Price to Sales) of 2.2 times, near its three-year average. valuations remain compelling. We maintain a positive long-term stance on the stock,” he said.

Mattel MAT -24.98%decrease; red down pointing triangle shares plunged as much as 28% in late trading after the toy maker said an anticipated surge in holiday sales came up short, and it issued a lower-than-expected profit forecast for 2026. 

The shortfall in sales in the critical weeks before Christmas prompted the maker of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars to step up discounts, it said, putting a squeeze on profit margins. Both sales and profit came in below Wall Street expectations for the fourth quarter.

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