Almost half of UK small business owners are now using artificial intelligence tools, according to research released on 8 September by the insurance provider Simply Business, which found adoption has more than doubled from 22 per cent in 2025 to 47 per cent.

A further 13 per cent of owners plan to start using AI within the next six to 12 months, meaning 61 per cent are either using the technology already or expect to be soon, according to the company’s 2026 SME Insights Report. The report draws on a survey of UK small business owners carried out between 30 July and 7 August 2026, alongside earlier studies conducted this year, Simply Business said.

Among businesses using AI, the most common applications are creating content, cited by 63 per cent, problem solving on 53 per cent and generating ideas on 50 per cent. Some 46 per cent say the technology is helping them save time on administration.

Research published in March by the Centre for Economics and Business Research for HSBC UK found that 55 per cent of mid-sized companies were using AI in some form by the end of 2025, up from about 35 per cent two years earlier.

Confidence gap

Confidence has not kept pace with adoption, the report found. Just 19 per cent of small business owners describe themselves as “very confident” using AI day to day, and 33 per cent say they use it only for routine administrative tasks.

Security and privacy concerns are the most commonly cited barrier, mentioned by 44 per cent of owners. Not seeing a clear use for AI is second on 39 per cent, ahead of concerns about accuracy on 36 per cent. Simply Business said the findings indicated that for many small businesses the obstacle was not access to the technology itself but a lack of clarity about its practical application.

Nearly one in three owners, 31 per cent, say they do not understand how to use AI or are wary of integrating it into their work, which the insurer said pointed to a wider skills gap. A Business Matters analysis published in June identified thin margins, scarce digital skills and a shortage of time to experiment among the reasons AI adoption is not spread evenly across the economy.

Calls for guidance

Julie Fisher, chief executive of Simply Business, said: “Adaptability and resilience are central to the DNA of small business owners and time and again they have proven they are drivers of innovation, finding new ways to grow even in the face of challenging trading conditions.”

She said the rise in AI adoption was one of the most significant shifts tracked in this year’s report, but that many owners remained wary of security and privacy around AI tools and unsure how the technology could be useful to them.

“To help unlock even greater levels of innovation and productivity, small businesses need tailored guidance on how AI can be used, accessible tools, and time to discover how it can work for them on their terms,” Fisher said.

Google launched its AI Works for Business programme of free workshops for small firms with the Department for Business & Trade and NatWest in 2025, after its research found UK small businesses lagging US counterparts on adoption.

Fay Phillips-Jones, founder and HR career coach at Coaching With Fay, said: “AI has played an important role in accelerating my business. As a sole founder, I use it to challenge my thinking, support business planning, organise information and develop more efficient systems. However, I treat AI as a thinking partner, not a substitute for thinking.”

She added: “I would welcome greater access to practical, funded education on responsible AI adoption. The opportunity for sole traders and microbusinesses is enormous, but the technology is evolving at an extraordinary pace.”

Ideja Bajra, founder of Edvance AI, said: “The biggest benefit to using AI is speed and efficiency; automating your processes means you can reach clients faster and more consistently. It’s also been a huge help in personal workload for me. There are already some encouraging government initiatives focusing on upskilling and AI integration, but from the perspective of a small specialist advisory firm, the support can sometimes feel fragmented.”

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Salford has been named the UK’s most entrepreneurial city after its concentration of small businesses grew by 15.4 per cent in 12 months, according to rankings released by GoDaddy, which found satellite cities taking four of the top five places.

The Most Entrepreneurial Cities ranking, published by GoDaddy, with data from the company’s Small Business Research Lab. Each place with city status in the UK is given a microbusiness density growth score, based on the number of new start-ups for every 100 people. GoDaddy said the list identifies the key locations fuelling the UK’s small business economy.

Salford, with a population of about 130,000, is two miles from Manchester, home to about 550,000 people. Ely, 14 miles north of Cambridge, was second, with density growth of 14.9 per cent, more than double the 7.1 per cent recorded by its larger neighbour.

Bangor in Northern Ireland grew by 12.9 per cent, four times Belfast’s 3.2 per cent, while Milton Keynes, on 11.7 per cent, outpaced London’s 9.8 per cent. The full top 10 also includes Stirling, Londonderry, Manchester, Sunderland, Preston and Lisburn..

Investment in Salford

The company linked Salford’s first place to sustained local investment. The city has developed a digital and innovation-focused enterprise hub anchored by HOST Salford at MediaCity, backed by Salford City Council and public funding that includes £846,900 from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. According to GoDaddy, the hub has supported more than 300 businesses and helped upskill more than 5,000 people, alongside programmes such as EnterprisingYou and Build a Business, which support people launching new ventures.

Yvonne Sampson, director of enterprise at GM Business Growth Hub, which delivers the EnterprisingYou programme, said: “The growth in Salford has been over a decade in the making, leveraging commercial and residential investment to create an environment for thriving entrepreneurship. The City has fantastic strengths, from the University to MediaCity and the longstanding partnerships between Salford Council and support organisations like ours, GM Business Growth Hub.”

She added: “Not only does it have a well-established digital, creative and technology sector, but recent investment in the City’s high streets has meant there has been some incredible growth in the everyday business economy.”

Zwi Meisner, 48, who has run the New York Laundrette in Salford with his brother for seven years, said: “Salford has a real sense of community. It’s a diverse place where people from different backgrounds support each other and genuinely want to see local businesses succeed. It doesn’t surprise me that so many new businesses are starting up in the area. Finding the right location is everything, and Salford can offer lower premise costs that would be harder to find in Manchester.”

Rents, AI and start-up costs

The research points to costs as one factor behind the shift. Average rent in Salford is about £2,500 a year cheaper than in Manchester, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Technology is another, GoDaddy said. More than half of entrepreneurs, 52 per cent, use generative AI to support their business, with the biggest time savings reported in content creation, cited by 62 per cent, marketing, at 40 per cent, and business advice, at 39 per cent.

The amount of capital needed to launch has also shrunk. In the latest survey by the Small Business Research Lab, 53 per cent of UK entrepreneurs said they had created a new venture with under £1,000 of initial investment.

Alexandra Rosen, economist and head of the GoDaddy Small Business Research Lab, said: “Entrepreneurship is no longer tied to major city centres. Better digital infrastructure, the rise of AI tools and lower start-up costs have changed the economics of building a business, making it possible for founders to launch and scale from places that may previously have been overlooked.”

She added: “What we are seeing is a more distributed model of growth, where smaller cities and towns are becoming increasingly important parts of the UK’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

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A hedge-fund billionaire and one of the UK’s richest taxpayers has decided to leave the UK for Greece, the BBC understands.

Chris Rokos plans to open an office in Athens, according to reports. Greece has generous tax rules for wealthy foreigners earning overseas income.

Rokos was ranked third in The Sunday Times list of Britain’s top taxpayers, having paid £330m last year, and in March said he would donate £190m to Cambridge University.

Rokos’s representatives declined to comment. A government spokesperson said: “The UK remains an attractive destination for talent and investment”.

“The chancellor has made wealth creation one of his top priorities,” the spokesperson said, adding that the UK has “a competitive and stable tax system, deep capital markets, world-class universities and a highly skilled workforce”.

It is not publicly known why Rokos has made the decision, which was first reported by Bloomberg, but Greece’s tax-rules are seen as attractive to the ultra-wealthy.

They allow foreigners who meet certain criteria to pay a flat yearly tax of €100,000 (£86,000) on all overseas income.

Rokos’s decision comes ahead of UK Chancellor John Healey’s first Budget on 28 October.

In an interview with the BBC on Monday, Healey did not rule out tax increases in the Budget, with a recent increase in government borrowing costs piling pressure on the public finances.

He refused to comment on any decisions about tax, promising only to “balance the books” and “control public spending”.

ESDS Software Solution shares continued their spectacular post-listing run on Tuesday, surging 16.21% to Rs 1,266.70 and extending their winning streak to the third straight session. The stock has now skyrocketed nearly 195% from its IPO issue price of Rs 429, rewarding investors with a sharp gain in just three trading days.

The stock’s stunning rally comes after a blockbuster debut on the exchanges. ESDS Software Solution listed at Rs 757 on the NSE, commanding a premium of around 76.5% over its issue price.

Strong investor appetite was also evident during the IPO subscription period. The issue was subscribed 136 times overall, reflecting exceptionally strong demand across investor categories. Qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) subscribed to their reserved portion more than 261 times, while the non-institutional investor and retail portions were subscribed around 193 times and 40 times, respectively.

The ESDS Software IPO was entirely a fresh issue, with a price band of Rs 408–429 per share. Ahead of the public offering, the company raised Rs 216 crore from anchor investors, allotting 50.34 lakh shares at Rs 429 apiece.

A significant portion of the IPO proceeds will be directed towards expanding and strengthening ESDS Software’s data-centre infrastructure. Around Rs 576 crore is proposed to be used to purchase and install cloud-computing equipment and other data-centre infrastructure. The remaining funds will be deployed towards general corporate purposes, giving the company greater flexibility to support its broader business and operational needs.

ESDS Software Solution operates in the digital infrastructure space, offering Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Managed Services and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions. The company serves customers in India and overseas across key segments, including banking and financial services, government and enterprises. Its focus on cloud infrastructure and data-centre services positions it to benefit from the continued growth in digitalisation and cloud adoption.
The company’s financial performance also showed a significant improvement in FY26. Total income rose 28% year-on-year to Rs 480.65 crore in FY26, compared with Rs 376.64 crore in FY25. More notably, profitability surged. Profit after tax (PAT) more than doubled to Rs 120.82 crore, marking a 117% increase from Rs 55.61 crore in the previous financial year.With a 76.5% listing premium followed by a near-195% surge from the IPO price in just three sessions, ESDS Software Solution has emerged as one of the most closely watched newly listed stocks. The extraordinary rally highlights the intense investor interest surrounding the company’s growth prospects, cloud infrastructure business and improving profitability.

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

MELBOURNE, Australia — Shares of Sunrise Energy Metals Ltd. surged $3.24, or 20.25%, to $19.24, extending an already extraordinary rally for the critical minerals company as investors continued positioning ahead of a widely anticipated final investment decision on its flagship Syerston scandium project in New South Wales.

Tuesday’s gain builds on a monthslong run driven largely by the company’s landmark US$400 million conditional loan commitment from the U.S. Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital, confirmed in early August, alongside a fresh September corporate presentation the company released this week reaffirming the technical and financial assumptions underpinning the Syerston project.

In its latest update, Sunrise confirmed that no new information or data had materially impacted the mineral resources, ore reserves, production targets or forecast financial figures outlined in the project’s feasibility study. The reaffirmation, prepared with input from qualified person Stuart Hutchin, gives investors renewed confidence that the project remains on track heading into what the company has described as the next major re-rating event: a targeted final investment decision expected within the current September quarter.

Sunrise, formerly known as Clean TeQ Holdings before rebranding in 2021, has emerged over the past year as one of the most closely watched names on the ASX within the broader critical minerals sector. According to Motley Fool Australia, Sunrise shares have risen more than 1,200% over the trailing 12 months, dramatically outperforming the broader All Ordinaries Index, which has gained just 5% over the same period.

If completed, Syerston is designed to become the world’s first primary scandium mine, a distinction significant given that scandium has historically been produced only as a byproduct of other mining operations. The project boasts a 60.3-million-tonne resource, an existing mining lease, development consent, environmental approvals and secured water rights. Initial development is targeting production of 60 tonnes of high-purity scandium oxide annually over an estimated 32-year mine life, with the company separately evaluating a second development phase that could double total annual capacity to 180 tonnes.

Sunrise Chairman Robert Friedland, the mining billionaire and founder of Ivanhoe Mines, has described the U.S. financing commitment as a defining moment for both the company and Australia’s broader mining industry.

“This is a landmark moment for Sunrise and Australia’s mining industry,” Friedland said. “The financing aligns with the goals of the U.S.-Australia partnership on critical minerals. The world has entered an era in which access to critical minerals will shape industrial strength, technology leadership, and national security.”

Friedland extended thanks to U.S. officials for their role in advancing the project.

“We thank President Donald J. Trump and the Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital for its support as we aim to establish Syerston as a cornerstone of Western scandium supply,” Friedland said.

Scandium is a silvery-white metal valued for its ability to significantly strengthen aluminum alloys while remaining lightweight and resistant to heat and corrosion, making it especially important for aerospace applications, defense technology, and increasingly, power delivery for artificial intelligence data centers. Defense contractor Lockheed Martin holds an option to purchase up to 15 tonnes of scandium oxide annually for Syerston’s first five years, representing roughly a quarter of the project’s planned initial production.

Sunrise CEO Sam Riggall has previously told CNBC that the Syerston project would possess “the capacity to replace everything that China supplies today from this one mining operation,” underscoring the strategic significance investors have attached to the project amid growing Western efforts to reduce reliance on Chinese-controlled critical mineral supply chains. China currently controls roughly 70% of global rare earth extraction and 90% of global refining capacity.

Beyond the core Pentagon financing, Sunrise has continued building out its broader supply-chain relationships in recent months. The company disclosed a US$5 million stake in Agni Semiconductor, a private developer of aluminum scandium nitride semiconductor technology, and secured acceptance into the New South Wales government’s Critical Minerals Royalty Deferral Scheme, becoming one of only two companies admitted to that program so far. The U.S. Export-Import Bank has also issued a letter of interest for up to US$67 million in additional financing support tied to the project.

Sunrise has disclosed a revised capital cost estimate for Syerston of between $450 million and $475 million Australian dollars, reflecting an expanded project scope that now includes plans for downstream refining capacity to be built in the United States, in addition to the core mining and processing facilities in New South Wales. The company has also said it has begun preparations for a listing on a U.S. securities exchange, a step that would require shareholder, court and regulatory approvals but could open access to deeper capital markets.

According to Kalkine Media, key milestones investors are watching closely in the coming weeks include finalization of binding documentation for both the Pentagon loan and the Lockheed Martin offtake agreement, continued progress on the project’s Front-End Engineering Design study, long-lead equipment orders, and, most significantly, whether the company’s targeted final investment decision lands within the current September quarter as planned.

Analysts have cautioned that despite the wave of positive developments, meaningful execution risk remains. The Pentagon’s financing commitment is explicitly conditional, phased and contingent on Sunrise contributing its own equity alongside milestone-based drawdowns, meaning the deal’s ultimate value to the company depends heavily on Sunrise successfully clearing a series of remaining financial, legal and technical requirements before the financing can formally close. TipRanks has separately noted that the most recent formal analyst rating on the stock remains a “hold,” with a price target well below current trading levels, reflecting continued caution among some market watchers even as the share price has continued climbing.

With early works and long-lead procurement already underway to preserve a targeted first-production timeline in the second half of 2028, Sunrise Energy Metals has positioned itself as one of the more advanced Western scandium projects moving toward production. Investors will likely continue watching closely in the coming weeks for confirmation of the targeted final investment decision, along with any further updates on binding financing and offtake agreements, as the company works to translate Tuesday’s continued share price momentum into a formal go-ahead for construction at Syerston.

Shares of Biocon rose 2% on Tuesday, hitting the day’s high of Rs 399 on NSE after the company secured a 10-year supply contract for Pertuzumab in Brazil for breast cancer therapy.

According to a filing with the exchange, the company said it signed a partnership agreement with Bahiafarma and Bionovis for Pertuzumab in Brazil, marking an important milestone in advancing production and commercialisation of the HER2-positive breast cancer therapy under the country’s Productive Development Partnership (PDP) program.

The company further said that the consortium of Biocon, Bahiafarma and Bionovis received 100% allocation under Brazil’s 10-year PDP program for Pertuzumab.

Also Read | Biocon signs 10-year Brazil supply deal for Pertuzumab breast cancer drug

Pertuzumab is a monoclonal antibody used in the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer, and at present, the product is not manufactured locally in Brazil and is a significant expenditure for the country’s Unified Health System (SUS).

The productive development partnership provides the consortium exclusive access to Brazil’s public healthcare market, which accounts for approximately 70% of the country’s demand for Pertuzumab.
This partnership also supports the long-term adoption of Biocon’s product within Brazil’s public oncology network.“Brazil is an important country for Biocon, and our journey here reflects the transformative potential of strong partnerships in building local capabilities and expanding access to high-quality, affordable medicines. This long-term supply contract for Pertuzumab marks a significant milestone in this journey, enabling us to reach more patients living with HER2-positive breast cancer and address an important healthcare need at scale,” said Shreehas Tambe, CEO & Managing Director, Biocon.

“In partnership with Bahiafarma and Bionovis, we are bringing together science, innovation, manufacturing excellence and local expertise to create a more sustainable pathway for access to this important cancer therapy. Together, we are not only supporting better patient outcomes but also helping build a stronger, more resilient healthcare ecosystem in Brazil,” Tambe further said.

The global biopharmaceutical company further said that it will receive milestone payments and a share of revenues generated from the Brazil PDP opportunity over a 10-year period. As part of the PDP framework, the product will undergo phased localisation in Brazil in the mid to long term.

Bahiafarma and Bionovis

Bahiafarma is a public pharmaceutical laboratory of the State of Bahia, Brazil, focused on pharmaceutical research, technological development, innovation and the production and supply of medicines and other health products, particularly for Brazil’s SUS.

“We celebrate the conclusion of this stage with the certainty that we are advancing in a strategic project for public health. It is the result of a work built in partnership, and that paves the way for the incorporation of a highly complex technology, contributing to Brazil strengthening its capacity to produce essential medicines for its Unified Health System (SUS),” said Ceuci Nunes, CEO, Bahiafarma.

Bionovis is a Brazilian biotechnology company focused on developing, manufacturing and commercialising complex biological medicines and biosimilars, with a strong emphasis on technology transfer, local biopharmaceutical manufacturing and expanding access to advanced therapies in Brazil.

Also Read | Biocon arm gets Japan nod for cancer drug pegfilgrastim biosimilar

“Through our partnerships with Biocon and Bahiafarma, we reinforce our commitment to the public policies of the Health Economic-Industrial Complex and to Productive Development Partnerships, expanding the Brazilian population’s access to highly complex biological medicines, generating incomes, employing specialised professionals, and promoting the country’s productive autonomy,” said Odnir Finotti, CEO, Bionovis.

In 2026 so far, Biocon shares were up 1.84% and nearly 8.44% in the last one year. The stock gained 48.24% in the last three years and 11% in the last five years.

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

Telegram users began reporting widespread access problems late Monday night, with outage-tracking site Downdetector logging a sharp surge in complaints starting around 10:46 p.m. EDT, growing into one of the more significant reported disruptions to affect the messaging platform in recent months.

Downdetector’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 map for updates. The hashtag “TelegramDown” quickly began circulating on social media as users compared notes on the issue, with the post drawing more than 11,000 views within a short window of being published.

Independent monitoring service Technobezz tracked the disruption climbing steadily overnight, reporting 26 outage reports in the 24 hours leading up to 2:50 a.m. UTC Tuesday, with the vast majority of complaints, 81%, centered on connection issues. Reports spanned six distinct global regions, according to the tracker, with core-feature failures and slow loading or buffering rounding out the remaining reported problems.

Separate real-time monitoring service Instatus characterized Telegram as “currently down” as of its most recent check, logging 57 recent outage reports as part of its ongoing 12-hour tracking window for the platform.

Not every monitoring service reached the same conclusion about the scope of the disruption. StatusGator reported Telegram as “currently operational” as of its own assessment, while still logging 13 user-submitted outage reports over the preceding 24-hour period. Similarly, UptimeRobot’s most recent automated check, run early Tuesday morning from North America, did not detect any unusual response times or error codes affecting the platform, illustrating the kind of inconsistency that can emerge across different outage-tracking services depending on their specific monitoring locations, methodologies and report thresholds.

Telegram, the widely used messaging app founded by Pavel Durov, has built a global user base exceeding 200 million monthly active users in recent years, offering encrypted messaging, large group channels and cloud-based chat storage as key differentiators from competing platforms. The app has faced periodic government restrictions in several countries, including Russia, Iran and China, tied to disputes over encryption keys and user data requests, though Monday’s reported disruption did not appear connected to any specific regional censorship action based on the available reporting.

Telegram has experienced a documented pattern of intermittent outages over the past several months, according to StatusGator’s incident history for the platform. Recorded incidents include an app-and-website outage lasting 3 hours and 23 minutes detected Aug. 13, a shorter connectivity disruption lasting 1 hour and 11 minutes detected Aug. 12, and a brief service outage lasting 18 minutes detected June 29. None of those prior incidents were officially acknowledged by Telegram at the time they were logged, according to StatusGator’s tracking, a pattern that has continued with Monday’s reported disruption as well.

Given Telegram’s scale and its function as a primary communication tool for millions of users worldwide, including in regions where the app serves as a critical channel for news distribution and organizing, outages affecting the platform tend to draw significant and immediate public attention. Users experiencing connectivity problems frequently turn to alternative platforms like X to check whether an outage they are experiencing reflects a broader, shared disruption or is instead isolated to their own device, network or geographic region.

Outage-tracking platforms including Downdetector, StatusGator and Instatus compile crowdsourced user reports and cross-reference them against automated server checks to help determine whether a genuine, widespread service disruption is underway, as opposed to isolated technical issues affecting only a subset of users. A sudden, sharp spike in reports spanning multiple regions simultaneously, as occurred late Monday, is generally treated as a stronger signal of a broader platform-level issue rather than a series of unrelated, localized problems.

As of the most recent updates, Telegram had not issued a detailed public statement addressing the specific cause of Monday night’s reported disruption. The company’s official status communications, when issued during past incidents, have historically come through Telegram’s own social media channels or its dedicated status page, though the company’s public acknowledgment of outages has at times lagged behind the volume of user reports being tracked independently by third-party monitoring services.

For users experiencing ongoing access issues, standard troubleshooting guidance typically recommended by technology support resources includes attempting to access Telegram from an alternative browser, device or network, such as a mobile hotspot, disabling any active VPN connection, clearing the device’s DNS cache, and restarting the home router before assuming a broader Telegram-wide outage is responsible for the disruption. If the platform loads successfully from a different network or device, the underlying problem is more likely tied to a user’s own local internet connection rather than reflecting a genuine issue with Telegram’s servers.

As of early Tuesday morning, it remained unclear how long the reported disruption would persist or what specific technical cause might be responsible for the connectivity issues affecting users across multiple regions. Given the conflicting readings from different monitoring services, with some characterizing the platform as fully down and others describing it as operational despite continued user complaints, the true scope and severity of Monday night’s disruption remained somewhat uncertain even as reports continued accumulating into the early morning hours.

Affected users were advised to continue monitoring both Downdetector’s live outage tracker and independent status services including Instatus and StatusGator for updates, as well as Telegram’s own official channels, while the company worked, without formal public acknowledgment as of the time of this report, to address whatever underlying issues were contributing to the reported connectivity problems affecting the platform late Monday and into early Tuesday.