The contract is said to be one of the biggest moments in the company’s 30-year history

A ship repair specialist with operations on the Tyne and Tees has signed a major contract with the Bangladesh Navy – its first with a foreign power.

The South Shields-based firm, which last month announced £84m of work with the UK Ministry of Defence, will now take receipt of the former HMS Enterprise, which has been decommissioned from the Royal Navy and acquired by Bangladesh. Once in dry dock in the North East, UK Docks workers will spend the rest of the year bringing it back to “operational readiness”.

The firm says the work will create around 23 new jobs – including some at its Tyneside headquarters. They will include programme oversight staff who will work with suppliers in Norway and 20 fixed term contracts for specialists from the ship repair and maritime engineering sectors.

UK Docks managing director Jonathan Wilson, said: “It was a landmark moment for the company when it earned service and maintenance contracts with the Royal Navy more than a decade ago but this is the first time we’ve worked on a vessel for a navy beyond the UK.”

The UK Docks’ senior management team flew to Bangladesh to sign the Former HMS Enterprise Regeneration Contract in Dhaka, alongside the two most senior and high-profile officers in the Bangladesh Navy. The multimillion-pound agreement will see initial work on the former HMS Enterprise taking place at a UK Docks’ Teesside facility, which has recently expanded from two to four dry docks.

Mr Wilson said: “It’s a completely new development for the company and one we’re looking forward to delivering on. It opens up a lot of possibilities for UK Docks.

“The fact that this is a capital project for the newly-formed Bangladesh Government and that it was signed by the equivalent of the first and second Sea Lords of the British Admiralty, shows its importance to Bangladesh and significance to us. Without doubt, it’s one of the biggest moments in UK Docks’ history, stretching back over 30 years of increasing growth.”

Work on the HMS Enterprise will include retrofitting advanced propulsion systems from Norwegian manufacturer Brunvoll AS, which will give it better manoeuvrability and reliability. UK Docks will also install cutting edge hydrographic and maritime technologies to give it data-gathering capabilities

Once work is complete, the 90.5m long, 3,740-tonne vessel will significantly enhance the Bangladesh Navy’s capabilities. UK Docks’ relationship with the vessel goes back a number of years when it took on a maintenance contract along with HMS Echo and HMS Protector.

Launched in 2002 and commissioned by the Royal Navy in 2003, HMS Enterprise was known for its distinguished service in survey operations, humanitarian support, and disaster‑response missions worldwide. It was decommissioned in March 2023, and sold to the Bangladesh Navy last month.

GameStop Corp. shares ticked up modestly Thursday as the video game retailer’s massive cash reserves and persistent speculation about a transformational acquisition under CEO Ryan Cohen continued to fuel investor interest despite ongoing revenue declines in its core business.

The stock rose as high as $23.70 before trading near $23.21 midday, up about 1.3% on the session with active volume. That followed a relatively stable period after the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter results released in late March, where profitability improved even as sales fell.

GameStop, once the epicenter of the 2021 meme-stock frenzy that sent shares soaring to nearly $500 pre-split, has evolved into a cash-rich holding company of sorts with roughly $9 billion in cash and marketable securities at the end of January 2026, plus about $368 million in Bitcoin holdings. The war chest has sparked intense speculation about what Cohen — who owns tens of millions of shares and bought another 1 million personally in January — might do next.

In the fiscal fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, 2026, net sales dropped 14% to $1.104 billion from $1.283 billion a year earlier, missing some analyst expectations. The decline reflected continued weakness in hardware and software categories amid the broader shift to digital gaming. However, gross profit rose to $386.8 million from $363.4 million, helped by a growing mix of higher-margin collectibles such as trading cards, which now make up a larger portion of revenue.

Selling, general and administrative expenses fell sharply to $241.5 million from $282.5 million, driving adjusted operating income higher to $147.7 million. Adjusted net income jumped to $291.4 million, with adjusted earnings per share of 49 cents — beating consensus estimates. Reported net income was $127.9 million, or 22 cents per diluted share.

For the full fiscal year 2025, sales declined about 5% to $3.63 billion, but the company swung to an operating profit of $232.1 million from a prior-year loss. Net income reached $418.4 million. The results underscored cost discipline and a pivot toward collectibles, even as traditional video game retail faces structural headwinds.

Cohen, who took the helm in 2021 and has overseen massive cost cuts and store closures, has signaled ambitions far beyond brick-and-mortar retail. In recent months he has teased a “very, very, very big” consumer-related acquisition that he described as transformational — potentially far more compelling than the company’s earlier Bitcoin treasury experiment. Rumors have swirled around possible targets in gaming, e-commerce, media or even unrelated consumer sectors that could leverage GameStop’s cash and brand.

The board granted Cohen a massive performance-based stock option award in January covering more than 171 million shares at an exercise price of $20.66. The award is entirely “at-risk,” with no base salary or cash bonus, and vests only if GameStop hits aggressive milestones such as $10 billion in market capitalization initially and up to $100 billion eventually, along with substantial EBITDA targets. Shareholders are expected to vote on the plan soon.

GameStop has also embraced Bitcoin as a treasury asset, holding roughly 4,709 BTC. The company has used some of the holdings in a covered-call strategy via Coinbase to generate yield while maintaining exposure. Earlier transfers of the Bitcoin stash to institutional platforms sparked brief sale rumors, but filings confirmed the position remains intact as a strategic reserve.

Short interest remains elevated at around 64 million shares, or roughly 15-16% of the float as of mid-March, with days-to-cover still in the double digits. That keeps the meme-stock narrative alive for retail investors who continue to monitor for any signs of a repeat squeeze, though borrowing fees are low and the dynamic appears less explosive than in 2021.

Analysts remain divided. Many highlight the attractive cash position per share — effectively giving investors a large portion of the current market capitalization in liquid assets — while warning that the legacy retail business continues to shrink without a clear growth catalyst. Consensus price targets generally sit well below recent trading levels, reflecting skepticism about execution on any major deal.

The company has not provided formal forward guidance, a pattern in recent quarters. For the current year, investors will watch for any updates on store optimization, further expansion into collectibles and — most critically — details on capital deployment. GameStop has also updated its investment policy to allow broader equity and crypto investments, positioning it more like an activist holding company than a traditional retailer.

Insider activity has been mixed. While Cohen added to his stake earlier in the year, some other executives have sold shares to cover taxes on restricted stock units. The stock has traded largely sideways to modestly higher in 2026, outperforming many other meme names but remaining far below its pandemic-era peaks.

Broader challenges persist. The video game industry continues shifting toward digital downloads and subscriptions, pressuring physical sales. Competition from Amazon, Best Buy and specialized e-commerce players remains fierce. GameStop has responded by emphasizing in-store experiences, exclusive merchandise and collectibles, areas where it can still command loyalty from enthusiasts.

Yet the real story for many investors is the balance sheet and Cohen’s vision. With nearly $9 billion in cash — bolstered by past equity raises during high-stock-price periods — GameStop sits on one of the strongest liquidity positions among consumer retailers. That firepower could fund a major acquisition, share buybacks, special dividends or even a pivot into new sectors.

Cohen has repeatedly emphasized an “owner’s mentality,” urging the company to treat capital as if it were its own. His personal purchases and at-risk compensation structure reinforce that message. Whether that translates into value-creating moves remains the central question hanging over the stock.

Thursday’s modest gain came with no major company-specific news, appearing driven by technical factors and lingering deal speculation. Options activity has shown mixed sentiment, with some bullish sweeps on near-term calls offset by caution in longer-dated contracts.

GameStop’s market capitalization hovers near $10 billion, a fraction of its meme-peak valuation but still reflecting a premium to its shrinking retail operations. The stock’s high beta and dedicated retail following mean it can move sharply on headlines, rumors or social media momentum.

Looking ahead, the next catalysts include the shareholder vote on Cohen’s compensation package, any announcements on acquisitions or strategic initiatives, and the eventual first-quarter 2026 results. Analysts will scrutinize any commentary on cash deployment and whether the company can stabilize or grow revenue in a challenging retail environment.

For now, GameStop embodies the tension between a declining legacy business and the tantalizing potential of its cash hoard and leadership’s ambitions. As Cohen hunts for that next big move, investors — both the die-hard “apes” from the original squeeze era and new speculative players — continue to watch closely for signs that the retailer can reinvent itself once again.

Whether it becomes a Berkshire Hathaway-style holding company, executes a blockbuster consumer deal or simply returns capital to shareholders, the coming months could determine if GameStop finally delivers on the transformation narrative that has kept its story alive for years.

Panna Sharma
President, CEO & Director

Well, first of all, I want to thank everyone for joining us at 8:30 Eastern to see what I think is going to be probably the first real public unveiling of this next-generation withZeta AI platform. Many of you have had some of the fortune to actually see it in the past in demos. Some of you are actually users, which is even better. But we’ve now come up with the next generation. And let me walk you through some of the features.

Just as a reminder, withZeta.ai started as an initiative at Lantern Pharma for us to think about rare cancers. And we’ve been particularly, I would say, both gifted and focused on trying to take our therapies and focus them on challenging or rare cancers, partly as part of a development strategy, but partly also their white space. There are a lot of cancers that basically have no standard of care or a highly unmet need — have high unmet needs. Zeta is actually one of the rare stars. It’s a type of star, Zeta star, and they’re very rare. And so as we kind of thought about this project, we codenamed it withZeta, initially Zeta and then withZeta because as the power of the platform increased, it became more than just a big data platform. It became more than just a RADR platform. It became more than just a platform for going out and gathering information and putting it into nice tables. It does all that.

But it actually started having the ability to reason. We use natural language processing and we tied all our tools together. And it actually

Tewkesbury councillors are divided on whether to join the West of England Combined Authority or Three Counties devolution partnership

Bristol has been compared to JRR Tolkien’s fictional realm of Mordor during a debate on Gloucestershire’s devolution options, with councillors saying they would rather “remain in The Shire” alongside Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Local government is undergoing reorganisation throughout England, and as part of this process the county would form partnerships with neighbouring authorities to take strategic decisions across a broader region.

The Bristol-focused West of England Combined Authority (WECA) is the favoured choice for Gloucestershire among the leadership of six of the county’s seven principal councils, and is regarded as the strongest option economically.

However, Tewkesbury Borough Council wishes to keep open the possibility of joining Herefordshire and Worcestershire in a Three Counties combined authority.

A discussion on the alternatives at the council earlier this week evoked imagery from fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings, as one senior Conservative councillor drew parallels between the city of Bristol and the desolate, fortress realm of Mordor.

Winchcombe Councillor David Gray said: “I looked for an analog in terms of Gloucestershire and how we might integrate and I found one in terms of an area that is peaceful, a rural life, farms, rolling hills and beauty and that is The Shire in the Lord of the Rings.

“And if I think about that, Mordor looks to me very like Bristol in that analogy.”

He is concerned that joining WECA would result in much of the funding being allocated to the Bristol area, leaving Gloucestershire at a disadvantage. He suggested this would make it unavoidable that portions of the county would be drawn into the city’s sphere of influence.

“I don’t like visiting Bristol,” he told the Tewkesbury Borough Council meeting on April 7.

“Bristol, to me, is not a cool place to visit. It’s a place you want to get out of as soon as possible. So in that light, I recognise all the economic arguments as to why we might go with favouring WECA but I do think that it makes sense to us on this one to sit on the fence.”

He argued that earnest thought should be devoted to the prospect of combining with Worcestershire and Herefordshire to establish a Three Counties combined authority.

“That has got many advantages and culturally, there is a lot more for us in that area,” he said.

“We can be our own cool kids in terms of having the best environment, the best nature, the best rivers. All of the things Gloucestershire has to offer.”

Fellow Conservative Councillor Paul McLain (Highnam with Haw Bridge) differed from Cllr Gray in his view of Bristol, expressing his affection for the city and having no objections to WECA.

But he did not regard it as the optimal solution for the county and voiced apprehension about the danger of Gloucestershire absorbing additional housing from the Bristol region.

“Here in Tewkesbury we’re used to being something of a dump for Gloucester and Cheltenham,” he said.

“I take no schadenfreude from Gloucestershire becoming a housing dump for the rest of WECA, but that is certainly a concern.”

He continued by stating he wouldn’t “reference Mordor and The Shire” but did assert the finest cider originates from the Three Counties rather than Somerset.

‘We love you Bristol’

“Much as I love Somerset cider, the best ciders come from Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire orchards,” he said.

Near the conclusion of the session, he suggested Gloucestershire ought to keep an open perspective regarding its choices.

“If we end up with WECA, we don’t want to burn those bridges but by the same token we as an authority, I think, need to show that we at least have considered both options and we are open minded.

“While many of us might prefer The Shire, and, I’m not saying Bristol is Mordor. It’s not. We love you Bristol. I do love Bristol but my inclinations go with those cider makers.”

At present, there’s no definitive timeline from ministers regarding which region, if any, Gloucestershire will align itself with.