The latest national Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) shows that business sentiment was on course to move into positive territory in Q1 2026, but the outbreak of the Iran war had a dramatic impact in the final weeks of the survey period, with confidence deteriorating sharply. While businesses reported improved annual domestic sales and exports growth and easing input price inflation compared with Q4 2025, the war introduced significant downside risks to the outlook for the coming year.

MSCA Legacy has awarded its annual doctoral bursary to Guo Lu, a PhD student at Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS), in recognition of his outstanding research on the relationship between corporate culture and firms’ carbon emissions.