Monte Blackburn launches consultation on its Colne plans

The Issa brothers’ property arm and Marks and Spencer have unveiled plans for a new Food Hall in Colne.

The 2,300 square metre store, with 1,672 square metres of trading space would be built adjacent to the EG on the Move services at the end of the M65 in the town.

The Issa brothers’ property firm Monte Blackburn Ltd on Wednesday opened a public consultation seeking views from local people and businesses on its plans to jointly submit a new full planning application for the development with M&S.

The planning application to Pendle Council will come forward in the coming months following the results of the online consultation and distribution of leaflets to nearby properties.

The proposal is in addition to Monte Blackburn and M&S’s stalled scheme for a £10.1million food hall on Frontier Park.

This development which was granted planning permission by Hyndburn Council in April is currently awaiting a High Court hearing following a second legal challenge from supermarket Tesco supported by Blackburn with Darwen Council.

The challenge to the Frontier Park food hall comes against the background of M&S’s decision to close its existing 1980s all-purpose store in Blackburn town centre’s King William Street when its lease expires in September 2027.

The proposed new Colne store would have 170 car parking spaces, be landscaped and integrated into the existing access road that presently serves the roadside services and create up to 70 new jobs.

The M65 site currently has planning approval for a small warehouse development, but Monte Blackburn and M&S will jointly submit a new full application for the food hall scheme, which if approved, will allow the site to be fully developed out.

If planning permission is granted construction could start in late 2026 with opening anticipated in Autumn 2027.

M&S is proposing the Colne store ‘to deliver more products to its local customers’.

The consultation document says the car park will include EV charging points, accessible bays and secure cycle parking.

The development will feature modern architecture, high-quality landscaping and sustainable features including energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, solar PV panels, and biodiversity enhancements

The location offers convenient access off Whitewalls Drive.

The consultation says: “Marks and Spencer is proud to support British farming through long-standing relationships with over 9,500 Select Farm partners across the UK.

“We work with suppliers based in Lancashire such as Bright Blue Foods in Shadsworth and Winterbotham Darby in Clitheroe.

“The food hall will further strength these relationships and contribute to Lancashire’s economic resilience.”

To find all the planning applications, traffic diversions, road layout changes, alcohol licence applications and more in your community, visit the Public Notices Portal.

Indian IT stocks have had a bruising run since late January, with selling pressure spreading from largecaps to midcaps as investors reassessed what generative AI could do to the outsourcing model that powered the sector for three decades. The Nifty IT index has fallen about 21% in February, putting it on track for its worst monthly performance in over two decades, as worries grew that automation could shrink billable work, shorten project cycles and put pricing under pressure.

The sell-off has been violent in terms of wealth erosion. Nifty IT’s market cap erosion in February was over Rs 6 lakh crore. Investor anxiety stemmed after a new tool from Anthropic forced everyone to rethink how quickly automation could move from back-office tasks into revenue-heavy IT services workstreams.

In the current correction, companies seen as tied to legacy, people-heavy application maintenance and traditional managed services have been derated the hardest, while select smaller names have held up or rallied on the expectation that AI spending will first drive demand for infrastructure, integration solution providers.

Based on the past one-month performance, 25 stocks in the broader IT and tech services universe delivered positive returns even as many frontline names corrected sharply. The gains were led by Blue Cloud Softech Solutions, up 33%, Kellton Tech Solutions, up 32%, Datamatics Global Services, up 28%, and Ramco Systems, up 26%.

Other notable gainers included Innovana Thinklabs, which rose 19%, Moschip Technologies, whose shares gained 19%, Ceinsys Tech, up 16% and Netweb Technologies India, which also booked 15% gains.

Analysts say investors should not treat IT as one pack. Vipul Bhowar, Senior Director and Head of Equities at Waterfield Advisors, frames the shift as the sector moving from digital transformation to compute and intelligence.
In his view, the market is rewarding firms that can combine high-performance hardware capability, including GPUs, with cloud and AI services, while commoditised application maintenance faces faster automation. He also points to a margin split, with high-end cloud consulting and AI orchestration delivering margins that can be 15-20% higher than standard services, and argues that compute capacity and GPU management are becoming competitive differentiators rather than just headcount scale.
That partly explains why a chunk of winners sit closer to the picks end of the AI cycle. Netweb, for instance, is commonly associated with high-performance computing systems and enterprise infrastructure builds, which tends to be an early-stage requirement when companies scale model training, inference and data workloads.

Hardware-facing and network-facing names also appear in the outperformer set. D-Link India sits in networking equipment, while Black Box is identified with enterprise network and digital infrastructure services. Dynacons Systems and Allied Digital are known for IT infrastructure, systems integration and managed services in a more infrastructure-led sense rather than pure application outsourcing.

These are the sorts of vendors that can benefit when enterprises refresh networks, endpoints, data centre capacity and hybrid cloud setups to support AI adoption.

A second cluster among gainers points to specialised engineering and silicon adjacency. Moschip, for example, is positioned around semiconductor and embedded systems work, a theme that often attracts incremental interest when the market narrative shifts toward accelerated computing and the hardware stack that enables AI.

Even when AI reduces the need for certain routine software work, it can raise demand for hardware-aligned engineering, device-side compute and embedded integration across industries.

A third set reflects enterprise software and workflow platforms that can sell automation as product rather than automation as effort reduction. Names such as Ramco Systems and Datamatics fall closer to enterprise applications, BPM and digital operations themes.

In an environment where clients want productivity gains, analysts say vendors that ship software platforms, automate processes, or run outcome-linked digital operations can be viewed as relatively better placed than firms billing primarily on time and material.

Analysts also flag that the slump in largecap IT has not been driven only by one headline. There are also fears of AI disruption have combined with broader concerns around demand, project timelines and pricing pressure across the traditional IT services model. Large Indian IT firms still derive a meaningful share of revenue from managed services and application work where productivity tools can compress billed effort.

Even if AI creates new projects, the near-term debate is whether revenue dollars will shift from labour hours to fixed-price, platform-led and IP-led constructs, which can take time to scale.

Nitant Darekar, Research Analyst at Bonanza, argues the sector is being repriced for that transition. He sees a bifurcation emerging, with firms exposed to GPU cloud infrastructure, data centre buildouts and AI implementation services looking better positioned than legacy, labour-intensive peers. He also points to the need for selectivity, since not every “AI-aligned” stock will have the order book strength and earnings visibility to justify a re-rating.

It should be noted that many of the stocks that rose are smaller, have thinner liquidity, and can move sharply on sentiment. A 20-33% move in a month can reflect genuine order flow, but it can also reflect positioning, low float dynamics and fast-moving narratives.

However, a meaningful share of the stocks that rose appear to be linked, directly or indirectly, to the enabling layer of AI adoption. That includes compute and infrastructure, networking, systems integration, specialised engineering, and workflow platforms that monetise automation rather than get disrupted by it.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)

MPs have approved Doug Gurr as fit to become the next permanent chair of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), but warned ministers that additional safeguards are needed to protect the regulator’s independence and address potential conflicts of interest.

In a report published on Thursday following a pre-appointment hearing earlier this week, the House of Commons Business and Trade Committee said it was satisfied that Mr Gurr has “the professional competence and independence required” to take on the role as defined by the Government. However, the committee stressed that serious concerns remain about the context of his appointment and the broader direction of competition policy.

Mr Gurr, a former senior executive at Amazon, was questioned extensively by MPs about his ability to act independently, particularly given the circumstances surrounding the removal of the previous chair amid pressure to align the watchdog more closely with the Government’s pro-growth agenda. Committee members made clear that the CMA must not prioritise investment or consolidation over consumer welfare, warning that growth cannot come at the expense of competition.

MPs also expressed unease about potential conflicts of interest arising from Gurr’s long and senior career at Amazon, one of the world’s largest technology companies and a business that could fall within the CMA’s new digital market regime. The committee suggested ministers consider whether he should recuse himself from any future decision about designating Amazon with Strategic Market Status under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.

The hearing also became a wider examination of the CMA’s recent performance. MPs noted that staff numbers at the regulator have almost doubled over the past decade, yet competitive pressures in the UK economy have not improved. They criticised what they described as slow market investigations during the cost-of-living crisis and weak enforcement action in certain high-profile cases.

Concerns were also raised about the CMA’s handling of digital competition issues, including delays in seeking remedies from Google over its relationship with news publishers and the limited commitments secured from Google and Apple regarding their mobile ecosystems. The committee questioned whether the watchdog had been sufficiently assertive in deploying its new statutory powers.

Internal challenges within the CMA were also highlighted. A recent budgeting error forced a 10 per cent reduction in staff, and internal surveys suggest that only around a quarter of employees expect to remain at the organisation for the next three years. MPs indicated that rebuilding morale and confidence inside the regulator would be a significant task for the new chair.

Another issue scrutinised during the hearing was the time commitment attached to the role. The CMA chair is currently expected to dedicate two days a week to the position. The committee questioned whether that allocation is sufficient for a regulator operating at the centre of politically sensitive and economically significant decisions, particularly during periods of crisis or intense scrutiny.

While the committee ultimately endorsed Mr Gurr’s appointment, it warned that it is “not the hallmark of a robust recruitment process” to have secured only one appointable candidate for such a critical role.

Liam Byrne, the committee’s chair, said the CMA sits at the heart of whether markets work for consumers or against them. He said that although Mr Gurr is professionally competent to take on the job, ministers must take steps to maximise confidence in the appointment.

“Growth cannot mean greater concentration,” Byrne said. “Investment cannot come at the expense of consumer welfare. And operational independence must be protected in fact, not just in theory.”

The final decision now rests with the Business Secretary, but the committee’s report makes clear that Parliament will be watching closely to ensure that the CMA remains an independent and effective guardian of competition in the UK economy.

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Operator

Welcome to Arkema’s Full Year 2025 results and outlook conference call. For your information, this call is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand you over to Thierry Le Henaff, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Sir, please go ahead.

Thierry Le Hénaff
Chairman & CEO

Thank you very much. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Arkema’s Full Year 2025 Results Conference Call. With me today are Marie-Jose, our CFO; and the Investor Relations team.

As always, the slides used during this webcast are available on our website. And together with Marie-Jose, we will be available to answer your questions at the end of the presentation.

In 2025, the macroeconomic environment was, as you know, particularly challenging, probably one of the most difficult our industry has faced in the last 20 years. The second part of the year, in particular, was marked by subdued demand across many end markets. The slowdown in the U.S., while Europe remained at low levels. This reflected ongoing cautiousness of economic factors as well as tight year-end inventory management at many of our customers.

On the other hand, Asia continued to be the most dynamic region for the group, in particular, China, where we could see an acceleration in certain sectors like electric mobility, advanced electronics and sustainable consumer goods as well. As you could expect in this context, the group focused on its fundamentals

With economic stagnation and extremes of inequality comes corrosion of trust in democratic institutions. So Trump may be a symptom, not a cause, of what Carney called a “rupture” with the post-WW2 order.

25 Jan 2026

Waymo is expanding into Chicago as it works to scale its autonomous ride-hailing business beyond its existing markets and establish a foothold in the Midwest.

The Alphabet-owned company said Wednesday it has begun “laying the early groundwork” for operations in the city, starting with mapping and manual vehicle testing – a phase that typically precedes a broader commercial rollout. A timeline for fully driverless public service in Chicago was not immediately disclosed.

Chicago would mark one of Waymo’s largest urban expansions to date and represents a key test of its technology in a dense, cold-weather city known for harsh winters and complex traffic conditions. The company is seeking to expand its autonomous ride-hailing footprint as competition intensifies in the robotaxi sector.

Waymo says its “AI-first” autonomous driving system has logged more than 127 million fully autonomous miles. According to company data, its vehicles are involved in up to 10 times fewer serious injuries or worse collisions and 12 times fewer pedestrian collisions compared with human drivers in the markets where it currently operates.

TESLA DODGES CALIFORNIA LICENSE SUSPENSION AFTER DROPPING MISLEADING ‘AUTOPILOT’ MARKETING TERMS

The company framed the Chicago push as part of a broader effort to improve road safety and accessibility while supporting local economic growth. Waymo said it is coordinating with community leaders and policymakers as it begins operations.

“Chicago is leading the future of mobility by welcoming Waymo to begin initial mapping and manual testing in the city,” Kam Buckner, speaker pro tempore of the Illinois House of Representatives, said in a statement. He added that the move represents “a vital step toward safer streets and more accessible transportation” and positions Illinois as a hub for 21st-century innovation.

Safety advocates also expressed cautious optimism. Erin Doherty, regional executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Illinois, said autonomous vehicles hold the promise of reducing crashes caused by impaired driving “if deployed responsibly and safely.”

Waymo’s expansion comes as major technology and automotive companies race to scale robotaxi services in large metropolitan markets. Chicago’s size and economic footprint could make it a significant proving ground for autonomous ride-hailing in the central U.S.

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The company said residents can sign up for updates as it prepares for future public access to rides in the city.

FOX Business has reached out to Waymo for additional comment. 

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Packaging Corporation of America (PKG) Bank of America 2026 Global Agriculture and Materials Conference February 26, 2026 7:30 AM EST

Company Participants

Mark Kowlzan – Chairman of the Board & CEO
Kent Pflederer – Executive VP & CFO

Conference Call Participants

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George Staphos – BofA Securities, Research Division

Presentation

George Staphos
BofA Securities, Research Division

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Hope you all are doing well for day 2, and we’re starting off with a bang with Packaging Corporation of America. I’ve covered PCA, actually, in theory, back to when it was still part of Tenneco, it goes back to the 1990s. And there — I don’t know if there’s any company that has kind of your continuity and tenure of management, Mark, in the industry, packaging or paper and forest. Mark Kowlzan, we’re delighted the Chief Executive Officer, is here for some formal remarks. He’s been with the company 30 years. Kent Pflederer, Chief Financial Officer, has been with the company for 19 years and in the audience today as well as Ray Shirley, EVP of Corrugated. He’s been with PCA 30 years as well. So again, not many companies can support that. And Mark, without any further ado, I turn it over to you.

Mark Kowlzan
Chairman of the Board & CEO

Thanks, George. Appreciate it very much, and welcome, everybody. Thanks for taking the time to be with us this morning. We’re going to spend a couple of minutes. We want to update you on the first 2 months of the quarter. So I’m going to read through this like it was like beginning of an earnings call. So you got to bear with me before we get to the Q&A on the fireside chat. So keeping with the spirit of a fireside chat, we’re not going to give you a formal presentation with slides today. We have an investor presentation up on our

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The number of young people not in education, employment or training has edged closer to one million, underlining mounting pressure on Britain’s fragile labour market and intensifying calls for targeted intervention from ministers.

Official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that an estimated 957,000 people aged 16 to 24 were classified as Neet between October and December 2025. That represents 12.8 per cent of the age group, a slight rise on the previous quarter and perilously close to the one-million mark last seen in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

While the total is marginally lower, by 0.4 percentage points, than the same period a year earlier, the quarterly increase reflects persistent weakness in youth employment prospects, particularly as hiring in hospitality, retail and graduate schemes continues to contract.

The ONS said the latest uptick was driven primarily by a rise in the number of young women classified as Neet. At the end of 2025, 12.2 per cent of young women were not in work, education or training, up on the previous quarter. By contrast, the number of young men in the same category fell slightly.

A young person is considered Neet if they are unemployed and actively seeking work, or economically inactive, meaning they are not seeking work and are not enrolled in education or training. The data shows that the number of unemployed Neets rose 12.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter, while economically inactive Neets fell by 6.6 per cent, suggesting more young people are attempting to re-enter the labour market but struggling to secure roles.

The UK jobs market remains subdued, with vacancies recently falling to their lowest levels in five years. Youth unemployment has been disproportionately affected by employers cutting entry-level hiring in response to rising wage costs and increased national insurance contributions.

Research from the Youth Futures Foundation has pointed to long-term sickness, mental health challenges and neurodivergence as key contributors to rising economic inactivity among young people in recent years.

Joseph, 24, from Solihull, who is autistic and has been unemployed for three years, described the difficulty of breaking into the workforce.

“There’s a real taboo around needing experience to get a job, but only being able to gain experience through a job,” they said. “Confidence can definitely be an issue. I’ve only ever worked one job that’s in person. I didn’t know how things worked, the commute into work, that sort of thing.”

Joseph said autism “can be a barrier but it can also be a strength”, adding that many employers fail to understand this. They are currently being supported by a youth worker from The King’s Trust to help secure paid employment.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden acknowledged that youth inactivity represents “a long-term challenge” and said the government was backing apprenticeships and paid work placements.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has pledged that young people who have been out of work or education for 18 months will be offered a guaranteed paid placement. Those who refuse may face benefit sanctions, a proposal that has drawn criticism from some campaigners.

An independent inquiry into the rise in youth inactivity, led by former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn, is under way and due to report this summer. Milburn has said he will examine systemic failings across employment support, skills provision, health and welfare.

Louise Murphy, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, warned that the UK was “perilously close” to a youth unemployment crisis.

“Today’s data adds to the picture of a generation up against real and complex barriers to finding a good job and improving their living standards,” she said. “Acting sooner rather than later can help prevent these worrying trends becoming an entrenched crisis.”

The think tank has urged Reeves to make an exception to her policy-light Spring Statement and introduce additional measures to tackle youth unemployment directly.

The data also adds to pressure on ministers over plans to scrap the lower minimum wage rate for 16 and 17-year-olds. Some employers argue that equalising rates would make it too costly to hire younger workers at a time when margins remain tight.

Government sources have indicated that while ministers are reluctant to abandon the pledge, a delay is under consideration.

Ben Harrison, director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, said the figures demonstrated “the magnitude of the challenge facing young people and the government”.

“There is a considerable risk that more young people will slip into long-term worklessness unless government acts to address the causes of this rise,” he said.

The last time the number of young Neets exceeded one million was between July and September 2011, in the prolonged aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Analysts warn that sustained weakness in entry-level recruitment risks scarring a generation, with long-term consequences for earnings and productivity.

The ONS cautioned that Neet figures can be volatile due to the smaller sample size relative to broader unemployment data. The statistics are derived from the Labour Force Survey, which has faced scrutiny over response rates and data quality in recent years. The ONS says it is working to improve the survey through increased interviewer recruitment and methodological reforms.

For now, however, the headline figure, nearly one million young people disconnected from work or education, stands as a stark reminder of the fragility of Britain’s youth labour market.

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Global superstar Shakira is set to make a triumphant return to Egypt with a one-night-only concert at the iconic Great Pyramids of Giza on April 7, 2026, nearly two decades after her memorable 2007 performance at the same legendary site.

The announcement, which has ignited excitement across social media and music circles, comes as part of the Colombian singer’s ongoing “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour,” supporting her latest album of the same name released in 2024. Promoted by Venture Lifestyle and tickets available through TicketEgypt, the event promises a spectacular fusion of contemporary pop energy against one of the world’s most ancient and awe-inspiring backdrops.

Shakira shared her enthusiasm in a personal video message delivered in fluent Arabic, greeting fans and expressing her thrill about performing “in front of the Pyramids,” a location she described as a dream setting. The clip, widely circulated by event organizers and Egyptian media outlets like Cairo Spots, has amplified anticipation for what organizers call one of the biggest international live events in the region this year.

The concert is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. local time at the Pyramids Great Gate venue in Al Haram, Giza, just outside Cairo, and run for approximately six hours. Organizers have emphasized strict entry policies: no on-door tickets, no re-entry, minimum age 21+, couples or mixed groups only, and a zero-tolerance stance on violent behavior. Tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable, with door selection applying to different categories.

Demand has proven intense since sales opened. Wave 1, Wave 2, and Wave 3 standing tickets sold out rapidly — some in under six hours — highlighting the pent-up excitement among Egyptian fans and international visitors eager to witness Shakira’s high-energy show in such a historic setting. Remaining ticket waves are still available as of late February, though organizers warn of limited availability as the date approaches.

This marks Shakira’s second performance at the Pyramids, following her 2007 show that drew massive crowds and cemented her connection to the region. The return underscores her enduring popularity in the Middle East and North Africa, where her music blends Latin rhythms with global appeal and has long resonated with diverse audiences.

The Giza concert fits into a packed April schedule for the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer as she expands her tour footprint across the Middle East and beyond. Just days earlier, on April 4, she headlines the Offlimits Music Festival in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Subsequent dates include stops in Aqaba, Jordan (March 28), Doha, Qatar (April 1), and further performances in India, including Mumbai and New Delhi.

The Egypt show also aligns with broader efforts to position the country as a premier destination for major international entertainment. Hosting concerts at the Pyramids — the only surviving wonder of the ancient world — has become a coveted milestone for artists, blending cultural heritage with modern spectacle. Previous events at the site have drawn global attention and boosted tourism, though they require careful coordination with Egyptian authorities to preserve the archaeological integrity of the plateau.

Shakira, born in Barranquilla, Colombia, in 1977, has sold more than 95 million records worldwide, earning her status as one of the best-selling female artists of all time. Her latest album, “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran” (Women No Longer Cry), marked a triumphant return after a seven-year studio hiatus, featuring hits that address themes of resilience, empowerment and personal growth. The tour has already seen sold-out arenas across Latin America, Europe and North America, with critics praising her dynamic stage presence, intricate choreography and powerful vocals.

In Egypt, the announcement has sparked widespread buzz on platforms like Instagram and Facebook, where local influencers and event pages have shared promotional reels and fan reactions. Rabih Mockbel, founder of Venture Lifestyle, has been instrumental in amplifying the news, posting updates and the artist’s Arabic message to build momentum.

Fans have expressed particular excitement over the symbolic nature of the venue. Performing beneath the ancient wonders is expected to create visually stunning moments, with potential for elaborate lighting, projections and staging that complement Shakira’s signature dance moves and belly-dancing influences — elements that have long drawn comparisons to Middle Eastern traditions.

Logistical details continue to emerge, including transportation options to the remote site and security protocols typical of high-profile events in the area. Organizers have directed inquiries for premium lounge bookings to specific contact numbers.

As preparations intensify, the concert represents more than a tour stop — it’s a cultural bridge between Shakira’s Latin roots and the rich heritage of Egypt. With tickets moving quickly and social media ablaze, the April 7 event is poised to draw thousands to the Giza Plateau for an unforgettable night of music under the stars.

Whether delivering classics like “Whenever, Wherever” and “Waka Waka” or newer tracks from her latest release, Shakira’s return to Egypt promises to blend spectacle, emotion and history in equal measure.