Beacon Park Boats has been sold out of administration, saving 30 jobs and hundreds of holidays

Jobs and holidays have been saved after a business based along the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal was rescued from administration. 30 jobs have been saved at Llangattock-based Beacon Park Boats, a luxury canal boat holiday provider.

Beacon Park Boats has a fleet of more than 20 vessels and delivers hundreds of holidays every summer. Visitors book its narrowboats and cruise along the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, but the firm suffered “turbulent” trading after the pandemic and a long recovery left it with significant debts.

The company turned to PKF Littlejohn Advisory for help. Having worked with the business since late 2025 PKF looked at several options, including a potential “time to pay” arrangement with HMRC to securing additional external funding, but none were viable.

As a result, Oliver Collinge, partner in PKF Littlejohn’s Leeds office, and Paul Williams, partner and head of advisory in the London office, were appointed as joint administrators of Beacon Park Boats.

Following a short period of trading whilst in administration, during which PKF secured additional funding to trade the company, the joint administrators ensured that all summer holiday bookings were honoured and the team remained fully employed during one of the busiest seasons of the year.

The PKF team then sold the business out of administration to Timeout Escapes Limited in August, saving jobs and holidays.

Law firm Walker Morris advised the joint administrators, while interim funding and valuation advice was provided by Gordon Brothers, said PKF.

Paul Reeves, partner at Littlejohn Advisory UK LLP, said: “Beacon Park Boats has an incredible heritage and a unique offer to holidaymakers wanting to explore the beautiful Welsh valleys. While the business had struggled in the years following Covid, its fundamentals were very strong and we had confidence that it could thrive given the opportunity.

“We are pleased for its loyal customers and staff that we were able to safeguard the company’s future. Businesses like Beacon Park Boats are all about people and that was something we kept in mind throughout the process.

“It was good to work with the teams at Walker Morris and Gordon Brothers to ensure that the process went smoothly. It was particularly rewarding to help ensure that workforce was maintained, keeping decades of industrial knowledge in the local area.”

Growing up on the southside of Chicago, Jerome Murphy watched three generations of attorneys build their practices on service, community, and results.

His grandfather, father, and uncles showed him what it meant to use the law as a tool for helping people. That foundation shaped everything that followed.

Today, Murphy is a partner with Tressler LLP, a national firm based in Chicago. He serves clients in complex litigation involving governmental tort defense, breach of contract, commercial disputes, toxic tort cases, and personal injury defense. He has tried cases in both state and federal courts and has developed a reputation for preparation that goes deeper than most.

A Lesson That Changed Everything

Early in his practice, Murphy argued a significant motion for a client and lost. The law was not in his favor, but that was not the only problem. He had built his arguments around his client’s strongest position without fully anticipating the opposition’s best counterargument.

“After that, I changed how I prepared for any significant argument, either in trial or appellate court,” Murphy said. “I now script the best counterargument the other side could make and make sure my position preempts that argument, rather than just presenting my own case. This anticipatory form of practice has proven to create favorable results for my clients.”

That shift became the backbone of his practice. Instead of simply presenting his case, Murphy learned to think one step ahead, to see the battlefield from both sides, and to prepare his clients for the strongest attack the other side could mount.

Building a Career on Short-Term Wins

Murphy does not lean on long-term goals. He believes they are the byproduct of satisfying short-term objectives that are reasonable and fair.

“If I come up short, I have the opportunity to be constructively critical, and learning from the experience,” he explained. “Long-term goals are satisfied with the satisfication of the many reasonable short-term goals I set for myself.”

That philosophy extends to how he measures success with clients. He defines success as the earned obtainment of goals, but only when those goals are set realistically from the start. He works with clients to establish clear expectations, knowing that the facts and the law sometimes impose limits.

“My metric of success is my ability to deliver a reasonable objective to my client,” Murphy said. “Goal setting is created in consultation with your client, with a realistic expectations of the limitations that may undermine those goals.”

Recognition and Growth

Murphy earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Illinois in 2011 and graduated cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law in 2014. Since entering practice, he has been recognized by Leading Lawyer as an Emerging Lawyer in 2018, 2019, and 2022, an honor given to less than 2 percent of lawyers under 40 or those practicing fewer than 10 years. He was also selected by his peers in the 2023 and 2024 editions of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America.

Despite the accolades, he maintains a beginner’s mindset.

“I have to remain humble and approach each client and matter as if it’s my first,” Murphy said. “I owe it to all of my subsequent clients to demonstrate the same carefulness and concern I would for my first client. I never presume that I am beyond learning something new, and I maintain an appetite for a better understanding of the law and a better way to serve my clients.”

Gratitude as a Tool

When obstacles arise, Murphy turns to a simple practice. He identifies 10 things for which he is grateful.

“I’m immediately injected with positive energy, perspective and perseverance,” he said.

That discipline reflects a broader belief in the connection between personal well-being and professional performance. Murphy sees them as symbiotic. He needs to be healthy and sound in his personal life to deliver the highest quality results to clients. Professional success, in turn, breeds the confidence to take risks and push boundaries in other areas of life.

Outside the courtroom, Murphy reads widely in philosophy, history, and economics. He hikes the trails in local forest preserves, golfs with friends, and has toured the Hawaiian islands. He stays involved in his church community and travels with family and friends to see historical landmarks across the country.

A Practice Built on Ethics and Preparation

Murphy credits his partners, family and friends in the legal industry, and his law professors for teaching him how to practice ethically. Those influences continue to shape his work at Tressler LLP, where he handles everything from toxic tort litigation to real estate transactions for buyers and sellers.

The qualities he considers most important are diligence, communication, perseverance, flexibility, adaptability, honesty, critical thinking, and hard work. They are not abstract ideals. They are the daily habits that allow him to anticipate the next move, prepare for the toughest argument, and deliver results for the clients who depend on him.

Jerome Murphy remains based in Palos Heights, the same community where his family has lived for decades. He is close with his siblings and enjoys being an uncle. The third-generation attorney continues the work his grandfather began, serving clients with the same care and commitment that inspired him to enter the profession in the first place.

Operator

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for participating in today’s conference call to discuss Concrete Pumping Holdings’ financial results for the third quarter ended July 31, 2026. Joining us today are Concrete Pumping Holdings’ CEO, Bruce Young, CFO, Iain Humphries, and the company’s External Director of Investor Relations, Cody Slach.

Before we go further, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Slach to read the company’s safe harbor statement within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that provides important cautions regarding forward-looking statements. Cody, please go ahead.

Cody Slach
Gateway Group, Inc.

Thank you. I’d like to remind everyone that during this call, to give you a better understanding of our operations, we will be making certain forward-looking statements regarding our business and outlook. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements.

For information concerning these risks and uncertainties, see Concrete Pumping Holdings’ Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and other publicly available filings with the SEC. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise.

On today’s call, we will also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA, net debt, and free cash flow, which we believe provide useful information for investors. We provide further information about these non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations with comparable GAAP measures in our press release issued

Jessica Phillips-Harris of the British Business Bank explores the emerging opportunities in Wales’ growing dog economy.

Wales has long been a nation of dog lovers. Increasingly, it is becoming a nation of dog entrepreneurs too.

From mobile groomers and doggy daycare to self-service washing stations, specialist toys and stylish accessories, a growing variety of businesses are being built around the needs – and increasingly, the wants – of our four-legged companions .It is a trend we are seeing first-hand through the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme data.

So far this year, almost 5% of all Start Up Loans distributed in Wales have been for start-ups within the ‘dog economy’.

Put another way, that’s almost 1 in 20 Welsh Start Up Loan recipients – a data point not to be sniffed at!

Collaring the market

And what is striking is not simply the number, but the diversity of dog-related businesses appearing in the Start Up Loans recipients, and they are operating in a market where consumer spending is clearly evolving.

There is no single figure for the value of Wales’ dog economy, but nationally the direction of travel is clear. UK household spending on veterinary and other services for pets reached £6.7bn in 2025, up from around £4.5bn in 2019 – an increase of almost 50%, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The category covers veterinary and other services for pets rather than dog businesses specifically, but the growth illustrates the increasing amount consumers are spending on the care and wellbeing of their animals.

That spending is happening against a backdrop of a rapidly expanding dog population. The number of dogs living in UK households has risen from around 12.5 million in 2021 to an estimated 15.5 million today, with 41% of households now owning a dog. At the same time, the market around pets is becoming increasingly varied, extending well beyond essential food and veterinary care into grooming, daycare, walking, training, products and other specialist services.

Pooch pampering

Perhaps most tellingly, pet grooming was added to the Office for National Statistics’ official inflation basket for 2026. The ONS says it introduced the service to reflect a growing area of the pet-care market, noting that reports indicate grooming attracts the second-highest spending in the sector after health checks.

In Wales, the dog grooming picture is equally interesting, even if it cannot yet be neatly expressed in pounds and pence. The Welsh Government estimates that more than 500 pet groomers are operating across the country, and describes pet grooming as widespread and growing. Its evidence also found that 36% of Welsh dog owners had used a professional dog groomer.

That creates an obvious opportunity for entrepreneurs – but the businesses emerging around dogs suggest the opportunity is becoming much broader than grooming alone.

When the dog gets better accessories than you do

Some of the most interesting businesses are tapping into something less essential: what people want to buy for their dogs.

In Abergavenny, former Royal Navy serviceman Ed Woolcott founded Monty’s XI following the loss of his beloved cocker spaniel, Monty.

Supported by a £20,000 Start Up Loan, Ed has launched a range of dog-walking accessories inspired by classic 1990s football kits, including collars, harnesses, leads and poo-bag holders.

No dog actually needs a retro football-inspired lead, and that is precisely what makes the business strategy so revealing.

Ed identified a gap in a market where many dog accessories were heavily targeted towards women, creating an opportunity for products aimed at men who wanted something that reflected their own interests.

Another Start Up Loans-supported business is Pawfectly Clean Cymru.

Rather than operating a conventional grooming salon, the business is installing self-service dog-wash stations, giving owners a quick and convenient way to tackle the inevitable muddy paws, wet fur and post-walk grime without having to turn their own bathroom into a canine spa. It currently has three locations across south Wales – Caerphilly Mountain, Pontcanna Fields and Clydach Valley Lakes.

It is a simple idea, but an interesting one commercially. As dog ownership grows, so does demand for services that make caring for pets easier. With ambitions to expand across Wales, Pawfectly Clean Cymru shows how entrepreneurs can find opportunities by rethinking established services rather than reinventing them entirely.

The businesses backed by Start Up Loans in Wales reflect the widening opportunities emerging around dog ownership.

Alongside Pawfectly Clean Cymru and Monty’s XI, businesses supported so far in 2026 include an American-style dog daycare business in North Wales, a manufacturer of chew-resistant dog toys, an indoor dog soft-play and stay-and-play facility, mobile dog groomers, specialist grooming suppliers and businesses providing dog walking, sitting and home boarding.

Together, they demonstrate how entrepreneurs are identifying opportunities across a market that extends far beyond traditional pet care. Some are solving practical problems for owners, while others are creating products and experiences that reflect the increasingly important role dogs play in people’s lives.

Beyond Start Up Loans, the British Business Bank’s other programmes are helping dog-related businesses to scale and expand and stay here in the UK. One notable example is Clydach Farm – Natural Dog Food which, in addition to finance from Start Up Loans, access the Bank’s Recovery Loan Scheme (now operating as the Growth Guarantee Scheme) through Robert Owen Community Banking Fund.

The ‘dog economy’ may not yet have an official Welsh balance sheet, but the businesses emerging around it tell us something important about modern consumer behaviour. As owners continue to spend more on their pets’ wellbeing, convenience and enjoyment, Welsh entrepreneurs are finding new ways to turn that demand into successful businesses.

• Jessica Phillips-Harris is a director in the Wales local growth team at the British Business Bank – the economic development bank of the UK Government.

AUSTIN, Texas — Shares of Tesla Inc. surged Thursday morning, climbing $20.07, or 5.62%, to $377.08 as of 10:15 a.m. ET, as investors positioned ahead of the company’s closely watched Cybercab launch event scheduled for later in the day in Austin.

The invite-only event, described by market analysts as the most consequential product milestone on Tesla’s calendar since Cybertruck deliveries began, will formally introduce the production version of the Cybercab, a purpose-built two-seat autonomous vehicle featuring no steering wheel or pedals. Tesla intends to deploy the Cybercab as the primary driverless model within its expanding robotaxi network, with riders expected to be able to hail the vehicle through the company’s existing Robotaxi app as early as the week following the event.

Tesla first unveiled the Cybercab concept in October 2024 at the “We, Robot” event held at Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles. Pilot production of the vehicle reportedly began at Gigafactory Texas in February of this year, setting the stage for Thursday’s rollout of the production-ready model. Alongside the Cybercab’s development, Tesla has continued expanding its existing Austin Robotaxi service, which currently operates using modified Model Y vehicles running Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software, initially with human safety monitors present before the company began removing monitors from certain routes. According to Tesla’s own disclosures, the service has logged more than 380,000 unsupervised miles without a notable incident.

The stock’s rally into Thursday’s event built on gains recorded earlier in the week. Tesla shares closed at $367.95 on Aug. 31, up 5.51%, as investors focused on the upcoming Cybercab event alongside renewed interest in Tesla’s broader Full Self-Driving and robotaxi ambitions. That level also marked the stock crossing above its 50-day moving average, a technical signal some traders view as indicative of improving short-term momentum.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has consistently steered investor attention toward the company’s autonomy software as the primary driver of Tesla’s long-term value, positioning the Cybercab and the broader robotaxi rollout as central to that narrative. Thursday’s event offers Musk and Tesla executives an opportunity to provide investors with a clearer picture of the company’s progress and near-term plans for scaling the driverless vehicle business into a commercially viable service.

Not all analysts have expressed confidence heading into the event. Morgan Stanley issued a note ahead of Thursday’s launch warning that Tesla shares could “sell off through the event,” a caution some market watchers have attributed to the risk that high expectations built up over recent weeks leave the stock vulnerable to a “sell the news” reaction regardless of how the Cybercab reveal itself is received.

Tesla’s most recent quarterly results offered a mixed backdrop for Thursday’s event. The company’s core automotive business generated $20.52 billion in revenue during the quarter, a 23.1% increase from a year earlier, while its energy business, covering solar and battery energy storage systems, posted $3.14 billion in revenue, up 12.5% year over year. Services and other revenue, which includes elements of Tesla’s software and subscription offerings, surged 50.4% to $4.58 billion.

Despite that revenue growth, Tesla’s costs rose considerably faster than sales during the quarter. Operating expenses climbed 47.3% from the prior-year quarter to $4.35 billion, driven in significant part by increased spending on artificial intelligence and other research and development initiatives tied to the company’s autonomy and robotics ambitions. That spending pushed Tesla’s operating margin down sharply to 1.4%, compared with 4.1% during the same quarter a year earlier, underscoring the tension between Tesla’s continued investment in future growth areas and the near-term profitability of its existing business.

Beyond the Cybercab, Musk has continued steering Tesla’s broader narrative toward technologies beyond conventional vehicle sales, including the company’s Optimus humanoid robot program and updates tied to Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Musk’s separate company, xAI, which Tesla has periodically referenced in connection with its own AI development efforts. Shares had previously jumped following updates related to both Optimus and Grok in the days leading up to this week’s Cybercab event.

Tesla’s stock has shown considerable day-to-day volatility in the weeks leading up to Thursday’s launch, reflecting the market’s sensitivity to incremental news tied to the company’s autonomous driving progress. Shares fell in individual sessions tied to concerns over August sales data and continued competitive pressure from Chinese rival BYD, which has continued posting strong overseas sales growth. At the same time, Tesla shares have jumped on positive developments, including a widely publicized, if ultimately unsuccessful, robotaxi ride attempted by a Tesla brand ambassador that failed to derail the stock’s broader upward momentum in the days preceding this week’s event.

Tesla separately disclosed a recall earlier this month affecting roughly 3 million vehicles in China tied to door handle safety and driver monitoring system concerns, though that development does not appear to have significantly weighed on the stock’s performance heading into Thursday’s Cybercab launch.

Wall Street’s broader attention to Thursday’s event comes amid a notably positive overall trading session for U.S. equities, with major indexes advancing following Wednesday’s rebound from a three-day losing streak. Tesla’s outsized gain has significantly outpaced the broader market’s advance Thursday, reflecting the stock’s particular sensitivity to news specifically tied to its autonomous vehicle ambitions relative to the rest of its business.

As the Cybercab event unfolds in Austin later Thursday, investors and analysts will be watching closely for details on production timelines, pricing, and the pace at which Tesla plans to scale the Cybercab within its existing robotaxi network, along with any additional updates on the safety record and regulatory status of the company’s broader Full Self-Driving technology. With Tesla’s next quarterly earnings report expected on Oct. 20, the company’s execution on the promises outlined during Thursday’s event is likely to remain a central focus for investors evaluating Tesla’s valuation and growth trajectory heading into the final months of 2026.

Following the closure of Henry’s Cafe Bar Propatir has been appointed to market the building

What was one of Cardiff’s best known nightspots, Henry’s Cafe Bar, is being marketed to attract a new operator. The owner of the building on Park Place is looking to secure a new tenant after owner of Henry’s, Stonegate Group, opted not to enter into a new lease. Henry’s, close to the New Theatre, was one of the best known night venues in Cardiff having operated at the location for 30 years. Stonegate, which is the largest pub company in the UK, took over the venue when it acquired the entire bar portfolio of Tattershall Castle Group in 2015. Henry’s closed back in February.

The empty building, which is owned by an undisclosed private landlord, extends to 25,000 sq ft, of which Henry’s occupied around 13,100 sq ft on the ground and basement levels.

Cardiff-based and recently established real estate investment and asset management firm Propatir, set up by Alex James, has been appointed to market the property. While at an early stage they have received strong interest from bar and restaurant firms, as well as from boutique and service apartment operators with a view to leasing the entire building from the landlord – subject to planning approval and refurbishment. While a challenging market for the UK hospitality sector, there are strong sub-sectors including private equity backed Irish bar operators and those catering for a mainly student market. Mr James said: “This is a prime opportunity to refresh a celebrated piece of Cardiff’s nightlife history. Leasing this iconic Park Place venue provides you with a fully fitted bar and restaurant within a character rich space boasting over 30 years of patron loyalty. This well-located hospitality venue captures strong, diverse footfall from local offices, students, and tourists alike, positioning your business precisely where Cardiff comes to celebrate, shop, and enjoy the theatre.” Mr James began his career with DTZ (now Cushman & Wakefield) before joining Knight Frank where he held senior roles including global capital markets partner and head of private client advisory. He has advised on real estate investment transactions with a value of more than $3bn..

BOZEMAN, Mont. — Shares of Snowflake Inc. surged Thursday, climbing $63.00, or 20.60%, to $368.84, after the cloud data platform company delivered second-quarter results that blew past Wall Street expectations and raised its full-year outlook, marking one of the biggest single-day rallies in the company’s history as a public company.

Snowflake reported adjusted earnings per share of 62 cents for its fiscal second quarter, well ahead of the 45-cent consensus estimate compiled by analysts. Total revenue reached $1.55 billion, topping the $1.48 billion Wall Street had projected and representing 35% growth year over year. The results, released after market close Wednesday, immediately sent shares surging in extended trading, with the stock climbing as much as 22% to 24% in after-hours and premarket activity ahead of Thursday’s regular session.

Product revenue, the company’s primary growth metric that excludes its smaller services business, totaled $1.49 billion, up 37% from a year earlier. That figure marked the company’s third consecutive quarter of accelerating product revenue growth, directly countering investor concerns heading into the report that enterprise cloud spending, and Snowflake’s growth trajectory alongside it, might be beginning to slow.

Snowflake reported a net loss of $191.7 million, or 55 cents per share, for the quarter, an improvement from the $297.9 million net loss, or 89 cents per share, the company posted during the same period a year earlier.

Company executives pointed to strong adoption of Cortex, Snowflake’s suite of artificial intelligence tools, as a key driver behind the quarter’s results. The company specifically highlighted growth in Cortex Code, an AI coding agent that Snowflake said now has 9,100 customer accounts, an increase of more than 2,000 accounts added during the quarter alone.

Alongside the earnings beat, Snowflake issued guidance for the current quarter and full fiscal year that exceeded analyst projections. Executives said they expect $1.59 billion in product revenue for the fiscal third quarter, ahead of the $1.5 billion consensus estimate compiled by FactSet. The company also raised its full-year product revenue guidance to $6.1 billion, implying growth of roughly 36% for the year, and forecast an adjusted operating margin of 14.5%, up from just 10% the prior year and ahead of the company’s earlier guidance of 13.5%.

Bank of America analyst Koji Ikeda highlighted the significance of the accelerating product revenue trend in a note to clients following the results.

“The key debate into the print was whether Product revenue could keep accelerating,” Ikeda wrote. “It did, and [fiscal third quarter] guidance implies further acceleration.”

Analyst sentiment toward Snowflake has remained overwhelmingly positive following the results. Of the 52 analysts currently covering the stock, 46 maintain a buy or strong buy rating, according to data from LSEG, reflecting broad confidence in the company’s growth trajectory even after Thursday’s sharp move higher.

Thursday’s rally pushed Snowflake shares well beyond their prior 52-week high of $341.95, resetting market expectations for the stock heading into the remainder of the company’s fiscal year. Snowflake shares had already climbed 39% year to date heading into Wednesday’s earnings report, significantly outpacing the roughly 12% gain recorded by the broader S&P 500 index over the same period. Thursday’s additional surge extends that outperformance considerably further.

If the stock’s gains held through Thursday’s regular trading session at levels comparable to its after-hours move Wednesday night, the rally would represent the fourth-largest single-session jump in Snowflake’s history as a public company, according to data reviewed following the earnings release. Snowflake first went public in 2020 in what was, at the time, the largest software initial public offering in history.

The results follow a period of significant momentum for Snowflake shares throughout 2026, with the stock having already climbed roughly 88% between March and August, driven by strong adoption of the company’s AI-focused product suite and previous rounds of raised revenue growth forecasts. That rally had cooled somewhat in the days immediately preceding Wednesday’s earnings report, with shares pulling back roughly 4% amid a broader selloff affecting software stocks and growing investor caution over whether Snowflake could sustain its accelerating growth trajectory heading into the print.

Headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, Snowflake operates what it describes as an AI Data Cloud platform, allowing organizations to consolidate enterprise data into a single, centralized source that can be analyzed, shared and used to build custom data applications and AI-powered tools. The company’s technology has increasingly positioned it as a key infrastructure provider for enterprises building out AI capabilities, a dynamic that has helped sustain investor enthusiasm for the stock even as some other segments of the software industry have faced more skeptical scrutiny from Wall Street this year.

Snowflake’s remaining performance obligations, a closely watched measure of contracted future revenue that reflects the durability of the company’s customer backlog, have continued to grow alongside the company’s reported quarterly results, reinforcing analyst confidence in Snowflake’s ability to sustain its current growth trajectory over the coming quarters. The company’s net revenue retention rate, a metric measuring how much existing customers are increasing their spending over time, has also remained a closely tracked indicator of the underlying health of Snowflake’s customer relationships.

Executives discussed the quarter’s results with analysts during a conference call held Wednesday evening following the earnings release, addressing questions about the durability of the company’s AI-driven growth, the trajectory of its Cortex product suite, and the company’s updated guidance for the remainder of its fiscal year.

With Thursday’s rally, Snowflake has firmly reestablished itself among the strongest-performing large-cap software stocks of 2026, even as questions remain among some market watchers about the sustainability of a rally that has now pushed the stock to trade at a significant premium relative to broader software industry valuation benchmarks. For now, Wall Street’s reaction to Wednesday’s results has been overwhelmingly positive, with the combination of an emphatic earnings beat, an unexpected acceleration in product revenue growth, and a meaningful raise to full-year guidance giving investors renewed confidence in Snowflake’s position at the center of enterprise AI infrastructure spending heading into the final months of the year.

Players of Brawl Stars, the popular mobile battle game developed by Finnish gaming company Supercell, began reporting access problems Thursday morning, with outage-tracking site Downdetector logging a spike in complaints starting around 10:30 a.m. EDT.

The outage tracker’s official account flagged the surge in a post shortly after the reports began, asking affected users how the disruption was impacting them and directing people to its live outage dashboard for updates. The hashtag “BrawlStarsDown” began circulating on social media as players compared notes on the issue.

Thursday’s disruption reports coincide with the anticipated start of Season 54 in Brawl Stars, following the conclusion of the game’s previous season, known as Windstock. According to gaming outlets tracking Supercell’s update schedule, the current season, Season 53: Windstock, was expected to conclude on Sept. 3, with a major maintenance window widely anticipated between Sept. 1 and Sept. 3 to accommodate the transition into the new season.

Supercell had not officially announced the exact start time for the anticipated maintenance break as of earlier this week, though gaming trackers following the update cycle had flagged the Sept. 1-3 window as the most likely period for the change, given that Windstock served as the final season covered under the game’s current “Ramen Rebellion” content update. Major seasonal transitions of this kind typically require Supercell to take Brawl Stars offline briefly while new content, balance changes and season-specific features are pushed to players’ devices.

Brawl Stars has a documented history of temporary server disruptions tied to scheduled maintenance windows, which the game’s developer typically uses to implement bug fixes, balance adjustments to individual playable characters known as Brawlers, and the rollout of new seasonal content. The game’s most recent prior maintenance break, which took place on Aug. 4, was used by Supercell to apply bug fixes addressing issues involving several Brawlers, along with adjustments to the game’s respawn protection mechanics and the introduction of a system called NanoPower alongside broader Brawler balance changes.

Beyond scheduled maintenance, Brawl Stars and other Supercell-published titles have occasionally experienced more significant, unplanned server outages. In one notable prior incident, Supercell’s servers went down across multiple of the company’s flagship titles, including Brawl Stars, Clash of Clans and Clash Royale, preventing players from logging into their accounts entirely. During that earlier outage, some players encountered error messages suggesting a server-side failure, and many expressed concern on social media that their game progress or account data might have been lost entirely, before Supercell’s development teams confirmed the issue was tied to a backend server problem rather than any loss of player data.

Supercell has historically addressed major service disruptions by posting updates directly through the official social media accounts associated with each affected game, a pattern that has continued through subsequent outages affecting the company’s titles. As of Thursday morning, it remained unclear whether Supercell had issued a specific public statement addressing the cause of the reported access issues, or whether the disruption was tied directly to the rollout of Season 54 content rather than a separate, unrelated technical problem.

Independent, crowdsourced outage-tracking services that monitor Brawl Stars on a rolling basis had shown the game operating normally in the days immediately preceding Thursday’s reports, with one tracker recording just six user-submitted reports over the preceding 24-hour period as of Sept. 1, none of which occurred within the final hour of that monitoring window. That relatively low baseline level of reported issues makes Thursday’s spike in complaints, and the accompanying trending hashtag, a notable departure from the game’s recent pattern of reliability heading into the new season’s launch.

Brawl Stars, first released globally in 2018, has grown into one of Supercell’s most commercially successful titles, generating tens of millions of dollars in monthly in-app purchase revenue worldwide at its peak, according to industry data tracking the game’s performance. The game features fast-paced, short-format multiplayer battles in which players select from a roster of characters, known as Brawlers, each possessing unique abilities, and compete across a variety of game modes ranging from team-based objectives to free-for-all combat formats.

Seasonal content updates, such as the Season 54 rollout anticipated to coincide with Thursday’s reported disruption, typically introduce new Brawlers, cosmetic items, gameplay modes, and balance adjustments intended to keep the game’s competitive landscape fresh for its large base of active players. Because these updates often require significant backend changes to the game’s servers, brief periods of downtime or degraded performance immediately surrounding a major seasonal transition are relatively common across live-service mobile games more broadly, not just titles published by Supercell specifically.

For affected players experiencing access issues Thursday, standard troubleshooting guidance for Brawl Stars connectivity problems typically includes verifying an active and stable internet connection, restarting the game application, checking for and installing any pending app updates through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, and clearing the application’s cache if the game continues to freeze or display error messages. Players are also generally advised against uninstalling the app entirely unless their game progress is confirmed to be linked to a Supercell ID account, since progress tied only to local device storage could otherwise be lost in the process of reinstalling.

As of Thursday late morning, it remained unclear how long the reported access issues would persist, or whether the disruption stemmed directly from the anticipated Season 54 content rollout, a separate unrelated technical issue, or a combination of both factors coinciding at once. Affected players were advised to monitor Brawl Stars’ official social media channels, along with independent outage trackers like Downdetector, for updates on when normal service would be fully restored following the game’s transition into its newest season.