Film-Ocean said the move will give it access to talent

Scottish subsea technology firm Film-Ocean has launched a North East office, citing the importance of the region in its market.

The £28m turnover firm says it has plans to expand its Cobalt Business Exchange-based team having moved into the Tyneside location. Film-Ocean is based in Aberdeenshire and is an independent subsea contractor that provides remotely operated vehicle (ROV) inspection and intervention services to the global offshore energy industry.

It operates large fleet of work class, inspection class and micro-class ROVS supplied with crew to locations around the world. Bosses say the North East has emerged as a region of growing importance to the subsea and offshore energy industry, with a strong and expanding talent base in ROV project management and technical support.

They say establishing a presence in the area gives Film-Ocean access to expertise it uses for worldwide operations. The new office will serve as an operational and project delivery base, growing Film-Ocean’s technical support offering and giving it chance to build relationships with clients and partners across the region as it takes on more work.

It comes as the firm says it has grown rapidly since the start of the year. Latest available accounts for Film-Ocean – covering 2025 – show a significant jump in turnover and profits, with directors talking of continued improvement in market conditions and the renewal of several legacy contracts, along with strong utilisation of the company’s equipment.

Film-Ocean’s commercial manager, Sophie Bryce, said: “Expanding our UK footprint to Newcastle is about being closer to our clients and easier to work with — faster response times, closer day-to-day collaboration, and more capacity to take on new projects. Sustainability was also front of mind when choosing where to base our new office.

“Cobalt’s environmental credentials mean our growth in North East England is happening in a way that’s consistent with how we operate at Ocean House in Aberdeenshire, and with the values our clients increasingly expect from their supply chain partners.”

Film-Ocean says it opted for Cobalt Business Exchange, partly thanks to its sustainability credentials with a surrounding 39-acre biodiversity park with wildflower meadows, wildlife habitats and carbon-reduction and sustainable travel initiatives.

More than 1,000 climbing ropes are being recalled over a fall risk that could potentially lead to injury or death, according to federal regulators.

Wichard Groupe North America issued a recall of about 1,050 Courant Spliced Kalimba Climbing Ropes, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced on Thursday.

“The spliced termination ends on the recalled ropes can fail unexpectedly, posing a risk of serious injury or death from fall hazard,” the commission said in its alert.

MORE THAN 1.7M LADDERS RECALLED NATIONWIDE OVER POTENTIALLY DEADLY FALL HAZARD

The recalled climbing ropes include the 45m, 50m and 60m items in lollipop and bubblegum color, as well as any additional spliced Kalimba ropes spliced under Courant splicing protocols before June 15, according to the commission.

The ropes are designed for tree climbing and pruning, and they are commonly used by arborists.

The company has received three reports of splices failing, but no injuries have been reported thus far in connection with the recalled ropes.

The ropes were sold by Vertical Supply Group, Arbsession, RBI Corporation and nationwide retailers from January 2023 through June of this year for between $250 and $350.

Consumers are instructed to stop using the recalled ropes immediately.

RECALL ISSUED FOR DOG AND HORSE MEDICATION AFTER FIBERGLASS FOUND IN VIALS

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They can contact Wichard Groupe North America for a free replacement rope, including shipping.

Consumers will be offered one of two free replacement options: one with immediate availability and another with availability beginning in the middle of September.

SpaceX and Tesla have formally confirmed the site for Terafab, an enormous artificial intelligence chip manufacturing complex being developed in partnership with Intel and xAI, moving the ambitious project from paperwork toward ground-breaking as Elon Musk’s companies contend with a chip supply gap they say existing global manufacturers cannot fill.

According to a report from Benzinga, the confirmation followed a $10 million payment SpaceX sent to Grimes County, Texas, earlier this week, satisfying a deadline built into a tax abatement agreement the two sides signed in June. Foundation preparation is expected to begin almost immediately, with construction renderings expected within days and physical construction to follow within months, according to Teslarati.

The Terafab is going to become the largest and most valuable building on Earth by a long shot.

This is so much more than just another semiconductor fab.

It’s going to be @Tesla, @SpaceX, xAI, and Intel building what will become the most important AI manufacturing complex EVER… pic.twitter.com/NebcmBQOtY

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— Teslaconomics (@Teslaconomics) August 6, 2026

Why This Particular Site

SpaceX selected the Gibbons Creek Reservoir, the former home of the Gibbons Creek Steam Electric Station, as the location for the full-scale facility, citing the site’s rainwater storage capacity and its proximity to Houston’s labor pool, with more than 15.9 million people living within a three-hour radius of the property. The company plans to power the complex using its own natural gas plants rather than drawing electricity from Texas’s ERCOT grid, and it has acquired the Navasota River pumping station it intends to use to divert stormwater into the reservoir for cooling and industrial use.

A Venture Bringing Together Four of Musk’s Key Partners

Terafab brings together three companies tied to Musk, SpaceX, Tesla and xAI, alongside chipmaker Intel, which joined the project in April following a meeting between Musk and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan at Intel’s campus. Musk first unveiled the venture in March at a launch event held at the defunct Seaholm Power Plant in Austin, describing it at the time as, in his words, the most epic chip-building exercise in history.

An initial prototype fabrication facility is already underway at Tesla’s Giga Texas campus in Austin, designed to feed into the larger, full-scale Grimes County complex. SpaceX has estimated that the first phase of the Grimes County site could cost approximately $55 billion, with total costs across all planned phases potentially reaching as high as $119 billion.

A Staggering Compute Target

At full scale, Terafab is targeting 1 terawatt of annual AI compute capacity, a figure the project’s backers say would roughly double current total U.S. semiconductor output. The plan calls for reaching 1 million wafer starts per month using Intel’s advanced 14A manufacturing process, a considerably more ambitious target than the current global AI chip output, which analysts have estimated at roughly 20 gigawatts annually, meaning Terafab’s stated goal would represent something on the order of 50 times current worldwide production.

Intel, in a statement posted to social media platform X when it joined the project, said its ability to design, fabricate and package ultra-high-performance chips at scale would help accelerate Terafab’s aim of producing 1 terawatt per year of compute to power future advances in AI and robotics. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan separately characterized the partnership as representing a step change in how silicon logic, memory and packaging will be built in the future.

The Supply Problem Driving the Project

The scale of the undertaking traces back to a supply constraint SpaceX has described explicitly in its own regulatory filings. In its Form S-1 filed ahead of its recent initial public offering, SpaceX warned that its orbital AI ambitions depend on chip access significantly beyond what is currently available, pointing specifically to capacity constraints at established foundries including TSMC and Samsung Foundry. Musk has repeatedly argued that existing global chip fab output covers only a small fraction of what Tesla and SpaceX will eventually require to power vehicles, Optimus humanoid robots and space-based data centers.

According to Musk’s stated division of labor for the project, Tesla is focused on the smaller prototype fab, while SpaceX is taking the lead on the initial phase of the full-scale Grimes County facility. The venture is designed around two primary facilities: one focused on terrestrial AI chip production, manufacturing processors that power Full Self-Driving software and the Optimus robot, and a second, more experimental facility intended to produce chips specifically engineered for use in orbital data centers.

Not Without Skeptics

Despite the scale of the announced investment, some industry analysts have offered a more measured read on what Terafab actually represents. Writing shortly after Intel’s involvement was confirmed, one technology publication argued that the venture functions less like an independent Tesla-built chip fab and more like an Intel Foundry expansion project for which Tesla, SpaceX and xAI are serving primarily as anchor customers, rather than a fully vertically integrated manufacturing operation built from scratch by Musk’s companies. That analysis noted that leading-edge chip fabrication typically takes established players like TSMC, Samsung and Intel roughly a decade and tens of billions of dollars to stand up, making the idea of an automaker, a rocket company and an AI startup independently building a competitive advanced process node a considerably more difficult proposition than the project’s public framing suggests.

SpaceX’s own regulatory disclosures have echoed a version of that caution. The company’s Form S-1 explicitly warns investors that Terafab “may not be successful” in closing the chip supply gap it was designed to address, an acknowledgment that stands in contrast to the more triumphant framing the project has received in promotional materials and social media commentary surrounding its launch.

Financial Scale Required

Some industry analysts have separately calculated that achieving the full 1-terawatt annual capacity target would require capital expenditures ranging from $5 trillion to $13 trillion over the project’s full lifespan, given the roughly 22.4 million advanced logic wafers that scale of output would require processing each year. To help generate additional liquidity for its broader ambitions, SpaceX previously acquired xAI in an all-stock merger, creating a combined entity valued at approximately $1.25 trillion at the time of that transaction.

With site confirmation now finalized and construction expected to begin within months, Terafab moves into a phase where its backers’ ambitious timelines will face their first real test. Traditional semiconductor fabs typically take five to seven years to progress from initial groundbreaking to full volume production, meaning even an aggressive construction schedule at Grimes County would likely place meaningful chip output for Tesla, SpaceX and xAI’s most demanding AI and robotics applications several years away, even as the underlying chip supply constraints the project is meant to address continue to intensify across the broader technology industry in the meantime.

The Rs 251.88 crore Technocraft Ventures IPO opens for subscription today, August 7, and will remain open until August 11. Ahead of its launch, the IPO is commanding an 5% premium in the grey market, reflecting positive investor sentiment.

The issue comprises a fresh issue of 95 lakh shares worth Rs 201.51 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 24 lakh shares valued at Rs 50.37 crore.

The company has fixed the price band at Rs 200-Rs 212 per share, with a lot size of 70 shares. At the upper end of the price band, retail investors will need a minimum investment of Rs 14,840 for one lot.

Following the close of the issue on August 11, the share allotment is expected to be finalised on August 12, while the stock is tentatively scheduled to make its NSE and BSE debut on August 14.

Khambatta Securities is the book-running lead manager for the issue, while Bigshare Services Pvt. Ltd. has been appointed as the registrar.

With a positive grey market premium indicating decent demand, investors will now watch whether the IPO attracts strong subscription across retail, institutional, and non-institutional categories.

Technocraft Ventures IPO GMP today

The grey market sentiment around the Technocraft Ventures IPO remains positive, with the latest GMP (Grey Market Premium) indicating an 5% premium or Rs 11 per share over the upper price band of Rs 212. Based on the current GMP, the estimated listing price of the IPO is around Rs 223 per share.

Technocraft Ventures IPO: Where will the funds be used?

The company plans to primarily utilise the IPO proceeds to strengthen its working capital position. Around Rs 150 crore has been earmarked for meeting working capital requirements, which will help support business expansion, improve operational efficiency, and provide additional financial flexibility. Any remaining funds from the issue will be deployed towards general corporate purposes.

About Technocraft Ventures

Established in October 1998, Technocraft Ventures Ltd. is an infrastructure development company engaged in turnkey Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) projects. The company executes infrastructure projects largely for state governments and government agencies across northern India, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

Its services cover a wide range of areas: water and wastewater infrastructure, roads and highways, urban infrastructure, and trenchless and micro-tunnelling works. The company has executed projects under schemes including AMRUT, JNNURM, UIDSST, Namami Gange, JJM, and PMGSY.

The company has experience implementing ADB-funded infrastructure projects with rigorous technical and environmental standards.

As of May 31, 2026, Technocraft Ventures employed 170 full-time staff, including 78 engineers, across functions such as engineering, procurement, finance, safety, business development, and administration.

Strong financial performance

Technocraft Ventures reported healthy growth in FY26, with total income rising 23% year-on-year to Rs 347 crore from Rs 281 crore in FY25. Profitability also improved significantly; profit after tax (PAT) jumped 54% to Rs 43.32 crore in FY26, compared with Rs 28.20 crore in the previous fiscal year, highlighting stronger operational performance.

Should you subscribe to Technocraft Ventures IPO?

According to a research report by Anand Rathi, Technocraft Ventures is valued at a P/E multiple of 19.4x at the upper price band, based on its FY26 annualised EPS of Rs 14.39. The post-issue market capitalisation is estimated at around Rs 8,397 million.

The brokerage highlighted the company’s diversified order book, expanding geographical presence, and integrated EPC capabilities as key positives that provide long-term growth visibility. However, compared with listed peers, the IPO valuation appears fairly priced rather than discounted.

Anand Rathi has assigned a “Subscribe – Long Term” rating to the IPO, citing growth potential and business fundamentals.

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

A New Mexico court on Thursday ordered Meta to pay $567 million and implement sweeping protections for teen users after finding Facebook and Instagram contributed to the state’s youth mental health crisis.

The judgment comes after a jury in March ordered Meta to pay $375 million for violating the state’s Unfair Practices Act, bringing the company’s total liability in the case to nearly $942 million.

Judge Bryan Biedscheid found Meta had created a public nuisance in New Mexico and ordered the company to implement a series of youth-safety measures over the next five years.

The requirements include monthly limits on teens’ use of Facebook and Instagram, restrictions on notifications, tighter controls on adults contacting minors, safeguards for AI chatbots and enhanced reviews of child sexual abuse reports.

META ORDERED TO PAY $375M AFTER JURY FINDS PLATFORM ENABLED CHILD PREDATORS IN LANDMARK NEW MEXICO CASE

In a statement to FOX Business, Meta said it disagreed with the ruling and vowed to appeal.

“We work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and have been transparent about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors and harmful content,” a Meta spokesperson said.

“We remain confident in our record of protecting teens online and will continue to defend ourselves against claims that misrepresent the facts,” the spokesperson added.

The court sided with New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, a Democrat, who accused Meta of designing products that addict young users and failing to adequately protect children from sexual exploitation on its platforms.

ZUCKERBERG SAYS AI SHOULD EMPOWER PEOPLE, NOT REPLACE THEM, IN NEW META VISION

Torrez said the $567 million will fund New Mexico’s abatement plan and comes on top of the $375 million in civil penalties awarded in March.

“For years, Meta knew its platforms were harming New Mexico’s kids, from feeding a youth mental health crisis to connecting predators with children, and it chose engagement and profit over their safety,” Torrez said in a statement.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
META	META PLATFORMS INC.	589.90	+1.13	+0.19%

“Today, Meta is paying for that choice,” he continued. “This judgment holds the company accountable for the damage it caused to our children, our families, and our schools, and it forces real changes to how Meta operates in New Mexico.”

Torrez called the ruling a “blueprint” for other states seeking to pursue similar litigation against social media companies.

TIKTOK SAYS MODERATOR ERROR DELAYED REMOVAL OF PEREZ HILTON’S LIVESTREAM SHOWING ACTS OF SELF-HARM

“For the first time, a court has ruled that a social media giant can be held liable for building products that endanger children and has ordered the structural changes needed to fix it,” he said. “New Mexico led the way in the courtroom. Now other states, and other countries confronting the same crisis, have a roadmap they can follow.”

More than 40 states and over 1,300 school districts have already filed public nuisance lawsuits against social media companies, seeking damages and court orders requiring changes to their products and practices.

The ruling followed three weeks of testimony in the second trial stemming from the lawsuit. Unlike the first trial, the proceeding did not involve a jury and focused on whether Meta’s platforms constituted a “public nuisance” under New Mexico law.

MOST AMERICANS STILL TRUST FINANCIAL ADVISORS OVER AI TOOLS FOR MAJOR MONEY DECISIONS, STUDY FINDS

Biedscheid compared the alleged harms caused by Meta’s platforms to pollution escaping from a factory.

“(J)ust as noxious pollution produced by the factory can harm the common public right to reasonably clean air, the harmful effects of Meta’s platforms on children do not stay contained by its platforms,” Biedscheid wrote in his ruling.

The judge said those effects extend into the real world and create broader burdens for children, families, schools, hospitals and law enforcement.

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New Mexico filed the lawsuit in 2023, alleging Meta had created a “breeding ground” for child predators and misled users about safety protections on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

FOX Business’ Jasmine Baehr and Reuters contributed to this report.

Operator

Hello everyone. Thank you for joining us and welcome to Blend’s Financial Results Conference Call for the second quarter of 2026. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the conference over to management for their prepared remarks. Please go ahead.

Meg Nunnally
Head of Investor Relations

Good afternoon and welcome to Blend’s Financial Results Conference Call for the second quarter of 2026. I’m Meg Nunnally, Blend’s Head of Investor Relations. Joining me today is Nima Ghamsari, our Co-founder and Head of Blend, and Jason Ream, our Head of Finance and Administration. Before we start today’s call, I’d like to note that we will refer to certain non-GAAP measures which are reconciled to GAAP measures in today’s earnings release and in the appendix of our supplemental slides.

Non-GAAP measures are not intended to be a substitute for GAAP results unless otherwise stated all financial measures we’ll discuss today, including our profitability, refer to non-GAAP. Also, certain statements made during today’s conference call regarding Blend and its operations, in particular our guidance for the third and fourth quarter of 2026, other commentary regarding 2026, and our expectations about markets, our strategic investments, product development plans, and operational targets, may be considered forward-looking statements under federal securities law.

We caution you that forward-looking statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties and a number of factors, many of which are beyond the company’s control, could cause

SYDNEY — Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index finished marginally lower Friday, slipping 8.00 points, or 0.09%, to close at 9,263.60, as weakness across most sectors outweighed gains in materials and information technology to cap what had otherwise been a record-setting week for the Australian sharemarket.

Seven of the index’s 11 sectors closed in negative territory Friday, with financials bearing the brunt of the day’s selling pressure. Despite the modest pullback, the index remained close to the record highs it had set earlier in the week, extending a broader run in which Australian shares have significantly outperformed many of their global peers over recent sessions.

Oil Prices Surge on Iran Uncertainty

Energy shares stood out as one of Friday’s bright spots, with Santos and Woodside Energy both poised for strong finishes to the week after oil prices jumped sharply overnight. According to Bloomberg data, West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 3.9% to $78.12 a barrel, while Brent crude rose 4.9% to $83.32 a barrel, reversing what had been a week of declining prices tied to optimism over reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping.

The overnight reversal came after Iran published a restrictive draft plan for the strait that fell short of the more open arrangement markets had been anticipating. Taking a step back, Woodside shares have still gained 35.6% over the course of 2026, far outpacing the ASX 200’s own 6.2% gain for the year, even though the stock underperformed the broader index over the preceding week amid the earlier decline in global oil prices tied to Hormuz diplomacy.

Woodside Exits Trinidad and Tobago

Woodside also made headlines Friday with a strategic portfolio move, announcing it had agreed to divest its operated interest in the Calypso Project in Trinidad and Tobago to joint venture partner BP, with specific financial terms of the deal not disclosed. Under the agreement, Woodside will sell its 70% operated interest in production sharing contract TTDAA 14, lifting BP’s holding in the project from its existing 30% stake to full ownership. The transaction, structured as a mix of cash and contingent payments, is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to customary government and regulatory approvals.

The deal brings to a close Woodside’s decades-long presence in Trinidad and Tobago, a footprint that has spanned the company’s Ruby and Angostura offshore oil and gas operations. Woodside Chief Executive Liz Westcott said the transaction demonstrates the company’s clear focus on progressing the right opportunities across its global portfolio, adding that the deal reflects those with the best potential to deliver sustained value for Woodside shareholders.

A Mixed Bag of Corporate Earnings

Friday’s session also featured a busy slate of corporate results from ASX-listed companies. James Hardie Industries, Nick Scali and ResMed were among the major names releasing earnings during the session, with ResMed expected to report full-year 2026 revenue of $5.65 billion and earnings per share of $11.12, according to analyst forecasts heading into the report.

Energy producer Beach Energy posted a mixed set of full-year 2026 results Friday morning, prompting analysts at Bell Potter to retain a hold rating on the stock alongside a 95-cent price target. The broker noted that Beach Energy is focused on shifting from a production-replacement cycle toward building a longer-term, sustainable reserves position, guiding to modest production growth in fiscal 2027 alongside relatively stable capital expenditure, a combination the broker said should support positive free cash flow while maintaining balance sheet strength for future growth initiatives and potentially dividends.

Capping a Standout Week for Miners

While Friday’s session itself was relatively subdued, it capped what had been described as a magnificent week for Australian mining stocks, with strength across gold, copper and lithium producers driving much of the broader market’s gains through the week. Ampol, Woodside and Santos all traded modestly firmer earlier in the week as Brent crude futures surged, while the technology sector extended its own weekly risk-on run despite mixed signals from the U.S. technology sector overnight. WiseTech Global continued a notable recovery during the week, with Catapult Sports, Appen and Xero also advancing alongside it.

Financials bore the most concentrated capital outflow during the week’s trading, a trend that continued into Friday’s session and contributed to the index’s modest overall decline despite strength elsewhere in the market.

A Notable Insider Purchase

Among Friday’s smaller corporate items, Webjet Chief Executive Nicole Sheffield purchased 250,000 shares of the online travel company on-market, a transaction valued at approximately $99,932 based on trading Aug. 5. Insider purchases of that scale are often watched closely by investors as a signal of executive confidence in a company’s near-term prospects, though the broader market impact of any single such transaction typically remains limited.

A Record-Setting Stretch Despite Friday’s Dip

Even with Friday’s slight pullback, the ASX 200 remains close to the all-time highs it touched earlier in the week, a run that has seen the index significantly outperform many of its international peers in recent sessions. Strategists have pointed to Australia’s relatively limited direct exposure to the volatile global artificial intelligence technology trade as one factor that has helped shield the local market from some of the sharper swings experienced on other major exchanges recently, even as Friday’s session showed that individual sector rotations, particularly within financials and energy, continue to drive meaningful day-to-day movement within the index.

With Australia’s corporate reporting season continuing in full swing over the coming weeks, investors are likely to keep a close watch on additional earnings releases for further signals on how individual sectors are performing heading into the back half of 2026. The trajectory of global oil prices, tied closely to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s latest restrictive shipping proposal, is also expected to remain a key swing factor for the ASX 200’s energy-heavy constituents in the sessions ahead, even as the broader index continues trading within close reach of its recent record levels.