On a beach in North Tyneside, fitness instructor David Fairlamb is putting nearly 40 people of all ages through their paces in a group training session.

He has worked in the fitness industry for 30 years – long before social media, let alone artificial intelligence.

Fairlamb, 54, believes AI has its place in fitness programmes and nutrition, but says it cannot fully replace real-life coaching.

“You cannot beat that real person, that real connection, the accountability,” he says.

When shown the AI‑generated adverts that breached advertising rules, his reaction is immediate.

“It’s so wrong. It’s so misleading. And it’s so worrying for younger kids,” he says.

“These ads talk about 28‑day transformations. I’ve been doing this for 30 years and I’m telling you now – that just doesn’t happen. You’ve got no chance.”

Fairlamb recently started working alongside his daughter Georgia Sybenga, 25, who says even people who grew up around social media struggle to tell what is real.

“Sometimes I question it myself,” she says. “Some of them, you really can’t tell.”

Both worry a constant exposure to idealised, artificial bodies can damage confidence – particularly among young people.

“They think ‘I could look like that in 30 days’,” Fairlamb says. “But that body might not even be real. For young lads, for their mental health, it’s really concerning.”

Sybenga also warns AI‑generated fitness programmes do not have the full picture.

“It doesn’t take into consideration injuries or health conditions, so… you could injure yourself,” she says.

British farmers are already nursing input cost rises of up to 70 per cent, and the worst of the squeeze on the world’s food bill is still to come.

That is the blunt assessment from the boss of the Grosvenor Group, the 349-year-old property and farming empire controlled by the Duke of Westminster, who has warned that fertiliser shortages caused by the war in Iran will have a “dramatic” effect on global food prices next year.

Mark Preston, executive trustee of Grosvenor, told Business Matters that fertiliser prices were “already quite expensive” before the conflict, but had since climbed by between 50 and 70 per cent since hostilities began in late February. The trigger, he said, was the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping artery through which a substantial share of the world’s fertiliser and the liquefied natural gas needed to make it must pass. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps indicated on Wednesday that the strait could shortly reopen, but with roughly 1,600 vessels still stranded, the damage to supply chains is already done.

For UK arable farmers, the immediate growing season has largely been insulated. Most fertiliser earmarked for this year’s crops was bought and applied before prices ran away. The problem, Preston explained, is the planting cycle that follows. “Farmers are not buying that fertiliser, they’re sitting on their hands and hoping things will improve, which they probably won’t,” he said. The likely response, he added, will be a swing from winter cropping towards spring cropping, giving growers a little more breathing room, but at the cost of yield, planning certainty and, ultimately, the price on the supermarket shelf.

Grosvenor itself is unusually well placed to weather the storm. The group’s flagship Eaton estate in Cheshire, the Duke’s traditional family seat since the 1400s, runs a large dairy and arable operation that supplies millions of litres of milk to customers including Tesco and Müller, and leans heavily on cow dung rather than bagged nitrogen. Its other rural holdings span Lancashire and Scotland, complementing the Mayfair and Belgravia estates that anchor the group’s central London portfolio.

The wider picture is considerably more alarming. “It’s going to be a very, very dramatic problem for the world, not just the UK in terms of food, just because so much fertiliser comes through those straits,” Preston said. He argued the food security risk now eclipses the energy story that has dominated headlines: “The concern is at least as much, if not more, around food and fertiliser than it is around oil, because there are alternative sources of oil. There aren’t very many alternative sources of nitrogen, for the production of fertiliser.”

His warning echoes that of Yara International, the world’s largest fertiliser producer, whose chief executive cautioned last week that the conflict could push some of Africa’s poorest communities into outright food shortages. Domestic sentiment is already turning: research by Opinium this week found that 80 per cent of Britons are anxious about grocery prices, with retailers continuing to pass cost rises through to the till.

Grosvenor’s wider results illustrate just how mixed the trading climate has become for diversified British groups. Underlying profits fell 18 per cent to £70.5m last year, dragged down by its North American operations, although the UK property arm proved a notable bright spot, running at 97 per cent occupancy. The group’s largest scheme to date, the redevelopment of South Molton Street near Oxford Street — taking in offices, shops, a hotel and 33 homes, is on course for completion next year. In the North West, work has begun on the first phase of an ambition to deliver 700 social homes; 69 have been built near Chester and Ellesmere Port, with a further 120 due this year.

Hugh Grosvenor, the 35-year-old duke and one of Britain’s wealthiest individuals with an estimated fortune of £9.56bn, received dividends paid to family trusts that crept up from £52.4m in 2024 to £53.7m. The group’s total tax bill more than doubled to £248m, of which £200m was paid in the UK, reflecting buoyant property disposals that lifted personal taxes on income and gains by £61m and corporate income tax by £71.9m.

The company has also been doubling down on flexible workspace, a segment it believes is becoming structurally embedded rather than a post-pandemic fad. James Raynor, chief executive of Grosvenor’s property arm, said roughly 23 per cent of the group’s London offices were now flex space, with occupancy “well over 90 per cent”. Last week, the company broke ground on its first directly managed flexible workspace outside the capital, in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, a vote of confidence in the regional office market and in the appetite of SMEs for short-form, fully serviced space.

For owners of small and medium-sized businesses, particularly those in food manufacturing, hospitality and agriculture, Preston’s warning lands as a clear signal to lock in supplier contracts, hedge where possible and review pricing strategy ahead of what looks set to be a difficult 2027.

---

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Sight Sciences First Quarter 2026 Earnings Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Hannah Jeffrey, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Hannah Jeffrey
The Gilmartin Group

Thank you for participating in today’s call. Presenting today are Sight Sciences Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Paul Badawi; and Chief Financial Officer, Jim Rodberg. Also in attendance is Sight Sciences’ Chief Operating Officer, Ali Bauerlein.

Earlier today, Sight Sciences released financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026, and raised its revenue guidance and maintained its adjusted operating expense guidance for full year 2026. A copy of the press release is available on our website at investors.sightsciences.com.

I would like to remind everyone that comments made by management today and answers to questions will include forward-looking statements, including statements about materials business considerations, 2026 outlook and financial guidance. These statements are based on plans and expectations as of today, which may change over time. In addition, actual results could differ materially from projected results due to a number of risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of factors that may affect the

Japan’s Nikkei share average shot to a record high on Thursday and the nation’s bonds rallied as financial markets reopened after holidays, catching up with optimism over strong technology earnings and signs of a potential peace deal in the Middle East.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index jumped 5.58%, the most in more than a year, to close at an unprecedented 62,833.84. The gauge reached as high as 63,091.14, ‌breaking through the psychological ⁠level ⁠of 63,000 for the first time. The broader Topix climbed 3% to 3,840.49.

Japanese government bonds (JGBs) rose after a three-day trading break that saw the yen appreciate on suspected intervention by authorities in Tokyo.

The yen bought 156.375 per dollar, largely steady a day after a sprint to a 10-week high of 155 fuelled talk of further official support.

Wall Street indexes hit record highs overnight as positive results from Advanced Micro Devices propelled euphoria over the red-hot artificial intelligence sector. Iran said it is reviewing a U.S. proposal to end ⁠the more ‌than two-month war, while President Donald Trump said the U.S. has had very good talks with Tehran.

“Today’s sharp gain of the Nikkei was led by the strong performance of chip ⁠shares, driven by Advanced Micro Devices’s strong forecast,” said Takamasa Ikeda, a senior portfolio manager at GCI Asset Management. “The contents of the U.S.-Iran peace proposals are thin, but there is an expectation in the market that further military action will not take place.”
There were 174 advancers on the Nikkei index against 49 decliners. The largest percentage gainers in the index were tech sector suppliers, led by Ibiden, up 22.4%, followed by Sumco, which surged 19.7%, and Kioxia, 19.2% higher.Mining and exporter shares were broadly lower, however, marking a reversal from gains during the Iran ‌conflict as energy prices surged and the yen weakened. Inpex, Japan’s top oil and gas explorer, sank 6.5%, leading decliners, while Honda Motor lost 0.24%.

“The automakers remain weak as the environment has become severe with intensifying global ⁠competition,” said Hiroyuki Ueno, chief strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management. “Besides that, they may not enjoy benefits of the weak yen in the current fiscal year.”

Minutes released on Thursday of the Bank of Japan’s March meeting showed many board members saw the need to raise interest rates if the Iran war-driven energy shock is prolonged.

JGBs got a boost as the stronger yen and stabilising oil prices over Japan’s holidays eased concerns about inflation, which diminishes the fixed returns on debt.

The benchmark 10-year JGB yield fell 2.5 basis points (bps) to 2.475%. The two-year yield, the one most sensitive to central bank policy rates, decreased 1.5 bps to 1.365%.

The shares of Bajaj Auto jumped over 3% on Thursday after the company reported its highest-ever quarterly profit of Rs 2,746 crore for the fourth quarter of FY26, marking a 34% surge from the Rs 2,049 crore profit reported in the same period last year, leading to bullish brokerage calls.

The two-wheeler maker released its results for January-March quarter of the financial year 2026 post market hours on Wednesday. While standalone net profit surged 34%, revenue from operations rose 32% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 16,006 crore in the quarter under review, compared with Rs 12,145 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. EBITDA climbed 36% YoY to Rs 3,323 crore, while EBITDA margin expanded 60 basis points to 20.8%.

Shares of the company gained over 3% to trade at Rs 10,656 apiece on the NSE on Thursday.

Bajaj Auto share buyback

Along with the Q4 earnings, Bajaj Auto also announced a share buyback worth Rs 5,633 crore. The company will buy back up to 46.94 lakh fully paid-up equity shares, representing 1.68% of its total equity, at Rs 12,000 per share through the tender route. The buyback price implies a premium of over 16% to the previous NSE closing price of Rs 10,319 per share.Bajaj Auto also announced a dividend of Rs 150 per share (1,500%) on equity shares with a face value of Rs 10 each for the financial year ended March 31, 2026. The record date for determining shareholder eligibility has been fixed as May 29, while the dividend will be paid on or around July 24, 2026.

Nomura on Bajaj Auto

Nomura maintained its ‘Neutral’ rating while raising its target price to Rs 10,928 from Rs 10,446. The revised target implies an upside potential of nearly 6% from the stock’s previous closing price.

The global brokerage said the company’s earnings were largely ahead of estimates. It raised its export volume forecasts by 4% for FY27 and FY28, citing strong momentum, and added that domestic growth is likely to be driven by Chetak and new bike launches in the current financial year.
Nomura now expects Bajaj Auto to report overall volume growth of 13% in FY27 and 8% in FY28, marking an upward revision of 2-3%. It added that the success of new bike launches in FY27 could provide further upside, although the end of the PLI scheme in FY28 may weigh on EBITDA margins, estimated at around 200 bps in Q4 FY26.“We estimate EBITDA margins at 20.9% in FY27 and 21.3% in FY28 (vs 21.4%/21.8% earlier). We believe commodity pressures should be well managed over time through pricing, operating leverage and a weak rupee. In Q1 FY27, margin pressures of ~100-150 bps QoQ may emerge,” Nomura said.

Jefferies on Bajaj Auto

Jefferies maintained its ‘Hold’ rating on Bajaj Auto, but increased its target price to Rs 10,500 apiece, a potential upside of nearly 2% from the previous closing price.

The brokerage said that the company reported strong growth in Q4, beating estimates. It added that India’s two-wheeler demand is holding up well, and it now expects 8% industry volume CAGR over FY26-29. However, rising commodity prices post some headwind to near-term margins.

Morgan Stanley on Bajaj Auto

Morgan Stanley maintained its ‘Underweight’ rating on Bajaj Auto, but raised its target price to Rs 9,259 per share. The revised target implies a downside potential of over 10% from the stock’s previous closing price.

The international brokerage said the company delivered an impressive set of results, with EBITDA beating estimates by 4-7%. It added that currency tailwinds and calibrated price hikes are helping offset commodity cost pressures. However, it cautioned that domestic demand, particularly in the entry-level segment, could moderate in the near term.

JM Financial on Bajaj Auto

JM Financial retained its ‘Reduce’ rating and marginally raised its target price by 1% to Rs 9,600, implying a downside of around 7%. The brokerage said domestic market share gains remain limited, with traction beyond the Pulsar range still muted.

“Hence, we do not expect meaningful market share gains despite further launches. We build in 6.1% domestic 2W volume growth for FY27E. Exports, however, remain strong, and we expect 16.7% export volume growth in FY27E, led by recovery/stability across regions,” JM Financial said.

Britain’s high street is sounding the alarm. The country, retailers warn, is drifting towards a generation locked out of work, with the Chancellor’s tax and wage decisions accused of choking off the very entry-level jobs that young people rely on to begin their careers.

In a sharply worded intervention, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has urged Rachel Reeves to halt what it describes as a relentless climb in the cost of employing people. The trade body estimates that the combined effect of higher employer National Insurance contributions and a steeper minimum wage added roughly £6.5bn to retailers’ wage bills in the last financial year alone, a sum that, on the BRC’s reading, is now translating directly into hiring freezes, reduced rotas and shrinking opportunities at the bottom of the ladder.

Helen Dickinson, the BRC’s chief executive, did not mince her words, accusing ministers of allowing an upward spiral in employment costs and red tape that is pushing young workers out of the labour market. Opportunities, she said, are vanishing in real time as businesses absorb a level of cost inflation many smaller operators simply cannot pass on to shoppers.

The political backdrop is unforgiving. Polling for the BRC by Opinium suggests that 49 per cent of the public believes Labour must do more to help unemployed young people, a finding that lands awkwardly for a government already battling questions over its handling of the wider economy. In March, ministers extended a scheme offering taxpayer-funded subsidies to firms hiring under-25s who have been claiming benefits for more than six months. Retailers, however, regard the measure as well-intentioned but undersized given the scale of the problem now bearing down on the sector.

The numbers tell their own story. Office for National Statistics data shows that more than nine million people aged 16 to 64 were economically inactive between December and February, neither in work nor looking for it, an inactivity rate of 21 per cent. Vacancies have fallen by 18 per cent since Labour took office in July 2024, the equivalent of around 156,000 jobs disappearing from the economy. The pain has been concentrated in precisely those industries, retail, hospitality and leisure, that have traditionally given school leavers and students their first taste of the world of work.

For Britain’s under-25s, the squeeze is acute. The unemployment rate for 16 to 24-year-olds reached 15.8 per cent in the three months to February, more than three times the overall jobless rate of 4.9 per cent. Behind that figure sits a generation of would-be Saturday-job applicants, gap-year workers and graduate hopefuls finding doors quietly closed before they have had a chance to knock.

Adding to the anxiety is the rapid arrival of artificial intelligence on the office floor. A survey by the Institute for Student Employers found that nearly nine in ten employers expect AI to reshape entry-level hiring, with almost a third anticipating significant changes to the way they recruit junior staff. Tourism and the legal profession are among the sectors expected to feel the impact first, raising the prospect of a double squeeze: rising employment costs at one end, technology displacing graduate roles at the other.

The Government has pushed back. Peter Kyle, the Business Secretary, argues that the Budget steadied the economy and pointed to 332,000 more people in work than a year ago. Ministers maintain that lifting the minimum wage was the right call for households still wrestling with the cost of living. For SME owners watching their wage bills climb and their till receipts soften, it is a defence that increasingly fails to land.

The deeper risk, as Dickinson’s warning makes clear, is structural. Once a cohort of young people misses that critical first rung, the part-time shop floor shift, the warehouse weekend, the graduate scheme, the economic and social cost of bringing them back can stretch over decades. For Britain’s SMEs, the question now is not whether the Chancellor will hear the message, but whether she will act before the damage hardens into something much harder to undo.

---

Sarah, from Yorkshire, had no idea what her loan sharks looked like, but they knew everything about her after she sent photos of her utility bills in what she believed was a legitimate registration process, unaware her lender was not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as is legally required.

Companies in the private sector added 109,000 jobs in April, payroll processing firm ADP said in its latest report on Wednesday.

The figure is above economists’ estimates of a gain of 99,000 jobs. The prior month’s payrolls number was revised lower to a gain of 61,000 from an initially reported gain of 62,000.

Which industries are hiring the most workers, according to the ADP report?

Education and health services added 61,000 positions, leading job creation in April. Trade, transportation and utilities added 25,000, construction gained 10,000 and financial activities added 9,000.

HOW AI EXPOSURE IS RESHAPING JOBS IN CREATIVE FIELDS

Leisure and hospitality and information each added 4,000 jobs, while natural resources and mining gained 3,000. Manufacturing added 2,000. 

ZUCKERBERG SAYS META LAYOFFS TIED TO AI SPENDING, WON’T RULE OUT FUTURE CUTS

On the negative side, professional and business services lost 8,000 jobs and other services lost 1,000 positions.

Large businesses – those with 500 or more employees – gained 42,000 jobs in April. Businesses with 50 to 499 employees gained 2,000 workers. Establishments with fewer than 50 employees gained 65,000 jobs.

ELON MUSK BACKS ‘UNIVERSAL HIGH INCOME’ TO COMBAT AI JOB LOSSES

Wage growth in April slowed slightly from last month. People staying in their roles saw their pay climb 4.4% from the prior year, while pay gains for those changing their jobs remained steady at 6.6%.

What experts are saying about the ADP report data

“Small and large employers are hiring, but we’re seeing softness in the middle,” said ADP chief economist Nela Richardson. “Large companies have resources to deploy, and small ones are the most nimble, both important advantages in a complex labor environment.”

“The U.S. labor market appears to be stabilizing,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “That’s the first step in a recovery. Job gains in April were the strongest since January 2025, according to ADP. Even smaller firms that were hit hard by tariffs last year are finally hiring again. Health care is still responsible for the majority of hiring, but a few other industries are starting to add headcount as well. The official April Jobs Report on Friday is likely to show solid job gains and potentially a drop in the unemployment rate.”

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE