Perini Navi, the Italian superyacht builder behind Mike Lynch’s Bayesian, has been put up for sale by its parent company The Italian Sea Group, which has called for offers by 15 September as it attempts to stave off collapse.

TISG said last week it was offering Perini Navi for sale alongside its Admiral, Picchioti and Tecnomar brands and its shipyards at Carrara and La Spezia, after receiving “numerous unsolicited expressions of interest”.

Lynch, the technology entrepreneur known as Britain’s Bill Gates, died when the Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily in August 2024, along with his teenage daughter Hannah and five other victims. The £30m yacht was built by Perini Navi in 2008.

TISG, a collection of luxury shipbuilding brands, bought Perini Navi out of bankruptcy in 2021 under a plan to revive it. Since the sinking, the group’s share price has slumped and its sales have collapsed.

The group has also been hit by a financial scandal after it discovered significant cost overruns on major projects run by senior executives. Giovanni Costantino, its chief executive and majority owner, resigned last month in a move that will lead to the departure of the company’s entire board.

It is unclear how much TISG might fetch for Perini Navi, one of the biggest names in luxury yacht building.

Last year TISG sued Angela Bacares, Lynch’s widow, for €456m (£390m), claiming its sales had collapsed since the Bayesian sank. The lawsuit, against Revtom, Ms Bacares’s Isle of Man-based company that owned the yacht, said Perini’s value had fallen since the sinking and that sales had dropped to zero.

“Not only has TISG been unable to sell a single Perini-branded yacht, seeing the ship owners involved in ongoing negotiations vanish, but it has also stopped receiving a single expression of interest from the group of international brokers with whom it collaborates,” the company said at the time.

Sources close to the Lynch family described the lawsuit, which also targets members of the Bayesian’s crew, as “cynical” and “desperate” after it was filed. It is not clear whether Revtom has responded to the claim or how far the case has progressed.

The sale comes amid continued dispute over responsibility for the sinking. Britain’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch has pointed to “vulnerabilities” in the yacht in its interim report, while local reports have said Italian authorities are focused on the actions of the crew.

Two criminal investigations into the sinking have been opened in Italy. According to Italian media, prosecutors have pushed for an expert report into what went wrong to be delivered by the second anniversary of the tragedy, which falls this Wednesday, 19 August. Prosecutors are expected to decide whether to bring charges once the report is filed.

Lynch died weeks after being acquitted of US criminal charges over the $11bn (£8bn) sale of his software company Autonomy to Hewlett Packard in 2011. He had earlier been found liable for fraud by the High Court in a civil case brought by HP, and this year a judge said HP was owed £920m, a sum that would bankrupt Lynch’s estate. Administrators are seeking permission to appeal against the ruling.

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New Delhi-based India Exposition Mart, which operates India Expo Centre and Mart in Greater Noida, has filed draft papers with Sebi to raise funds through an initial public offering. The IPO comprises a fresh issue of up to 75 lakh equity shares and an offer for sale of up to 2.3 crore equity shares by existing shareholders. The shares have a face value of Rs 5 each.

The offer for sale will be made by individual shareholders including Rakesh Kumar Sharma, Ravinder Kumar Passi and Meenakshi Passi, Vivek Vikas and Asha Ahlawat, Dinesh Kumar Aggarwal, Navratan Samdaria, Asha Goel, Esh Sharma and Raj Kumar Malhotra.

Corporate selling shareholders include Vectra Investments and MIL Vehicles and Technologies.

The company plans to use Rs 63.8 crore from the fresh issue for capital expenditure at India Expo Centre and Mart. This will include upgrading air handling units, chillers, cooling towers, lifts and escalators, variable frequency drives and other ancillary works.

Another Rs 30.8 crore will be used for renovation of exhibition halls 4 and 6, and for the build-up of exhibition hall 18 at India Expo Centre and Mart. The remaining proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.

The issue will be made through the book-building route. Up to 50% of the issue will be reserved for qualified institutional buyers, at least 15% for non-institutional investors and at least 35% for retail individual investors.
Incorporated in 2001, India Exposition Mart is among the top four exhibition and convention venues in India by total area, according to the Crisil report cited in the draft papers. The company was set up to build infrastructure for exhibitions, trade shows, conferences, promotional events and business events in India.The company operates India Expo Centre and Mart, an integrated exhibition and convention centre in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, on a leasehold basis. The venue covers 57 acres and provides services across the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, or MICE, ecosystem.

The foundation stone of India Expo Centre and Mart was laid in 2003 by the then Deputy Prime Minister of India. The centre was inaugurated in 2006 by the then Prime Minister of India and has since developed into one of the country’s largest integrated exhibition and convention centres, according to the Crisil report.

The company also operates hospitality assets around the venue. These include ExpoInn, a guest-house located within the same land parcel as India Expo Centre and Mart and certified as a 5-star property by the Ministry of Tourism. It also operates Plume, a hotel adjacent to the convention centre, on a leasehold basis, and Mor Stays, which is operated on a managed basis under a monthly revenue-share arrangement.

In terms of total exhibition space, India Exposition Mart is one of the largest exhibition venue providers in the country and the largest privately owned exhibition and convention venue in India, according to the Crisil report cited by the company.

The company has managed and organised 156 events and exhibitions over the last three financial years. As of June 30, 2026, it had more than 45 confirmed bookings for forthcoming events and exhibitions.

The company’s revenue from operations rose to Rs 290.6 crore in FY26 from Rs 194.7 crore in FY24. Net profit increased to Rs 31.1 crore in FY26 from Rs 23.3 crore in FY24.

Choice Capital Advisors is the book-running lead manager to the issue, while KFin Technologies is the registrar. The shares are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE.

Brokerage firm HDFC Securities has reaffirmed its ‘Buy’ rating on Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX), saying regulatory easing could expand the participant base, broaden product offerings and lower margin requirements.

The brokerage expects FPI participation in deliverable contracts and new bullion and metals index options to drive the next leg of growth, with a potential 20-25% increase in options premium. It also sees structural headroom for volume growth as commodity derivatives remain a small share of equity-market trading.

HDFC Securities has set a target price of Rs 3,600 apiece, implying a potential upside of 18.42% from MCX’s August 18 close of Rs 3,040 apiece on the NSE.

Regulatory easing could widen MCX’s participant base

The brokerage highlighted that the FPI consultation paper, already endorsed by the Commodity Derivatives Advisory Committee (CDAC), proposes allowing FPIs in non-agricultural index derivatives and physically deliverable contracts such as gold, silver and base metals, subject to a pre-tender exit condition.

Sebi has also proposed a compulsory square-off or rollover window from T-3, with residual positions transferred to the designated trading member’s proprietary account at the T-1 closing price. FPIs currently account for only around 3% of MCX volumes, versus 16% at equity exchanges.
The second consultation paper focuses on ease of doing business, including removal of close-to-money option series, greater exchange discretion on position limits and outsourcing of position-limit monitoring to clearing corporations.Sebi has also allowed margin exemptions, except mark-to-market margins, for positions backed by early pay-in of certified goods, while extending the benefit to options. The margin and SGF frameworks are also under review.

“These developments amplify our earlier thesis of sustained options growth — supported by both product innovation and structural market reform — and strengthen our conviction on MCX’s long-term earnings trajectory,” wrote Amit Chandra and Arjun Savla of HDFC Securities in a report.

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FPI access, index options seen driving next leg of growth

According to HDFC Securities, the first-order impact of the proposed changes is a boost to volumes. FPIs account for around 5% of volumes in cash-settled contracts such as crude oil and natural gas. Applying a similar activity level to bullion, the premium ADTV could increase by 15-20%.

Additionally, deeper participation could improve domestic price discovery, tighten spreads and strengthen convergence with international benchmarks.

The second-order impact, according to the analysts, is larger and underappreciated: the scaling of index contracts.

BULLDEX and METLDEX exist but do not contribute to premium today because the institutional buyer of a commodity index product, such as an FPI, has been excluded wherever the underlying is physically settled. Removing that restriction could make index options more attractive as the product is cash-settled.

Bullion and metals contracts offer fresh premium opportunity

Base metals offer a parallel opportunity. Metals contribute only around 1% of premium despite a deep physical ecosystem in copper, zinc, aluminium and lead.

FPI access and index access together could support the formation of a genuine metals vertical in options rather than a futures-only franchise.

The analysts estimate that index and metals contracts together could add around 25% to premium and around 20% to PAT over the next two years.

“This optionality is not in consensus numbers. There could be some cannibalization in bullion futures volume but the rise in options/Index volume will be incrementally positive,” said the analysts.

Lower margins could improve capital efficiency and turnover

The third leg, according to the brokerage, is capital efficiency. Initial margins on MCX derivative contracts — crude at around 30%, gold at around 10% and silver at around 25% — are high and directly affect volumes.

“Any rationalization of margins, together with the early pay-in exemption and a lighter SGF, releases capital at both the member and the client level and should translate into higher turnover velocity,” said the analysts.

Valuation remains attractive versus historical levels

Analysts at HDFC Securities pointed out that MCX is down 13% over the last three months but is up 80% over the last one year and 32% year-to-date. The stock trades at 37x FY28E EPS.

Historically, MCX has traded at around a 15% premium to equity exchanges, reflecting its optionality and materially lower regulatory risk. HDFC Securities sees the case for that premium re-establishing itself.

Rising volumes, a stable technology platform, regulatory tailwinds and the option value attached to a visible pipeline of new products have driven the stock’s outperformance to date, the analysts said, adding that they expect this trend to continue.

The stock has traded at a three-year average one-year forward P/E of around 44x and is currently valued at 45x/37x FY27E/FY28E EPS.

“We assign a core P/E multiple of 45x to June-28E core PAT and add net cash excluding the settlement guarantee fund, which yields a target price of Rs 3,600; the implied multiple on Jun-28E EPS is 43x. We keep FY28/29E EPS unchanged and maintain our Buy rating,” wrote the analysts in the research note.

British sports and custom apparel company Y1 Group has acquired university clothing specialist Redbird Apparel in a seven-figure deal, creating a combined business generating more than £7.5 million in annual revenue.

The deal, announced on Tuesday, brings together two founder-led companies that each began with a few thousand pounds drawn from their founders’ student loans. Both have grown without taking on venture capital, funding expansion through profits. The companies said both businesses grew organically, building long-term relationships across education and grassroots sport.

Y1 Group, which appeared on BBC’s Dragons’ Den, supplies bespoke sportswear, teamwear and custom merchandise. Redbird Apparel sells fashion-led university clothing, rapid-turnaround collections and an e-commerce platform. The companies said the combination creates one of the UK’s leading providers of premium branded apparel for schools, universities, sports clubs and organisations.

Chris Rea, founder of Y1 Group, said the deal reflected a change in how organisations buy branded clothing. “Ten years ago, organisations bought branded merchandise to give away. Today, they invest in apparel that builds identity, loyalty and belonging,” he said.

“People want clothing they’re proud to wear – not promotional stash that ends up at the back of a wardrobe. Redbird recognised that shift early, building an exceptional business around great design and customer experience.”

Rea said the acquisition “puts us firmly on track to achieve our 2030 ambition of £20 million turnover and becoming the UK’s fastest-growing sports apparel provider”.

Redbird was founded by Guy Brown and Laurence Snow while the pair were students at the University of Exeter, each investing £1,000 from their student loans. The company has since fulfilled more than 200,000 orders, supplying clothing and merchandise to universities, sports clubs and student societies across the UK, including Oxford and Cambridge.

The founders said Y1 Group’s Dragons’ Den appearance had been well known among student entrepreneurs on the Exeter campus while they were building Redbird, and that the business that inspired them has now bought them.

Brown said: “The company that first inspired us has now bought us. We love that.

“We were both students at Exeter university. We both started Redbird with just £1000 each from our student loans because we believed university clothing deserved to be better. Students wanted apparel that looked and felt like brands they already wore – not generic merchandise designed around the cheapest possible product.

“We focused on building a sustainable business through great products and happy customers, growing to thousands of orders without taking on venture capital. Joining Y1 gives us the scale, expertise and investment to take that vision even further.”

According to the British Promotional Merchandise Association, the UK branded merchandise market is worth more than £1.2 billion annually. The companies said organisations are increasingly prioritising higher-quality apparel that builds long-term brand affinity over short-lived promotional giveaways.

The combined group will offer bespoke custom apparel, rapid-turnaround fashion collections, e-commerce merchandise platforms and branded accessories.

Y1 Group said the deal, an example of growth through acquiring an established business rather than building from scratch, forms part of its long-term strategy to expand across education, grassroots sport and premium branded apparel.

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Kaveh Rouhi
Chief Financial & Legal Officer and Member of Managing Board

Sunny welcome, everyone. We very much appreciate that you are taking the time for this investor and analyst call on our first half year 2026 results. This conference call is scheduled for up to 60 minutes and will be recorded. After the management presentation, we will be happy to answer your questions. Today’s presentation is available on our Investor Relations website. The replay will also be available there shortly.

I’m glad to welcome our CEO, Jurgen Reinert, to this call. He joins me today to provide you with the H1 update. First, I will walk you through our first half figures. And then Jurgen will provide you with an update on our transformation program as well as updates on our business, including new solutions to our portfolio, current regulatory developments and how we strengthen customer value with our Large Scale solutions. Finally, we will wrap up with the updated guidance for the 2026 financial year and take time for your questions. I expect the presentation part to last about 30 minutes.

So let’s start. I refer to our disclaimer on Page 2. Let’s move to Page 4, financial highlights for the first half 2026. Well, before we deep dive into the various financial KPIs, let me first say that we are very happy with the results of H1. It clearly shows