Business
UK secures £10bn deal to supply Norway with warships
Jonathan BealeDefence correspondent and
Jessica RawnsleyBBC News
UK MOD Crown CopyrightThe UK has secured a £10bn deal to supply the Norwegian navy with at least five new warships.
The agreement to provide Type 26 frigates will be the UK’s “biggest ever warship export deal by value”, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said, while Norway said it would be its largest “defence capability investment” to date.
The government said the deal would support 4,000 UK jobs “well into the 2030s”, including more than 2,000 at BAE Systems’ Glasgow shipyards where the frigates will be built.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the agreement would “drive growth and protect national security for working people”.
“This success is testament to the thousands of people across the country who are not just delivering this next generation capabilities for our Armed Forces but also national security for the UK, our Norwegian partners and Nato for years to come,” he added.
The deal is also expected to support more than 400 British businesses, including 103 in Scotland, the MoD said.
Speaking to the BBC, defence minister Luke Pollard called it the “biggest British warship deal in history” and “a huge vote of confidence in British workers and the British defence industry”.
But the move was criticised by some in Norway, including Tor Ivar Strømmen, a naval captain at the Norwegian Naval Academy, who said French and German frigates were superior to British.
“The British Navy builds vessels for one role,” he told Norwegian outlet NRK. “It simply has old-fashioned and quite limited air defence.”
The agreement represents a victory for the British government and defence industry over France, Germany and the United States – which were also being considered by Norway as possible vendors.
It will create a combined UK-Norwegian fleet of 13 anti-submarine frigates – eight British and five Norwegian vessels – to operate jointly in northern Europe, significantly strengthening Nato’s northern flank.
The warships will be constructed at the BAE Systems yard in the Govan area of Glasgow, where frigates for the Royal Navy are currently being built.
Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said the choice of the UK “demonstrates the tremendous success of our shipbuilding industry and showcases the world-class skills and expertise of our workforce on the Clyde”.
Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who informed Sir Keir of the decision to select the UK in a phone call on Saturday night, said the partnership “represents a historic strengthening of the defence cooperation between our two countries”.
Støre said the government had weighed two questions in its decision: “Who is our most strategic partner? And who has delivered the best frigates?… The answer to both is the United Kingdom.”
PA MediaThe Type 26 frigates purchased by the Royal Norwegian Navy will be as similar as possible to those used by their British counterparts, and have the same technical specifications.
They are specifically designed to detect, track, and destroy enemy submarines, with deliveries expected to begin in 2030.
UK Defence Secretary John Healey said the UK would “train, operate, deter, and – if necessary – fight together” under the defence deal.
“Our navies will work as one, leading the way in Nato, with this deal putting more world-class warships in the North Atlantic to hunt Russian submarines, protect our critical infrastructure, and keep both our nations secure,” he added.
Citing this year’s strategic defence review, Pollard said Russia had been identified “as the principal threat to not just the UK’s security but NATO’s security”.
“A key threat of that is Russian submarines in the North Atlantic,” he told the BBC. “These new Type 26 frigates are world-class submarine hunters.”
PA MediaEight Type 26 frigates are currently being built at BAE Systems’ Glasgow shipyards for the Royal Navy, to replace its ageing Type 23 frigates – whose service life has already had to be extended.
It is not yet clear how the Norway deal will impact the delivery of the new vessels to the Royal Navy.
A UK defence source said the plan was still to deliver all 8 Type 26 frigates to the Royal Navy within the next decade. Norway has said it wants its first Type 26 delivered by 2029.
British officials told the BBC that the sequencing of delivery for both Norway and the UK still had to be worked out.
Two of the warships, HMS Glasgow and HMS Cardiff, have been built and are currently being fitted out at a second BAE shipyard, Scotstoun. They are due to enter service in 2028.
Another three, HMS Belfast, HMS Birmingham and HMS Sheffield, are under construction.
BAE has also licensed the Type 26 design to Canada and is building the warships in Australia under contract.
As part of a £300m modernisation at BAE Systems, a new shipbuilding hall – dubbed the “frigate factory” – was opened earlier this year.
The Janet Harvey Hall, named after a pioneering female electrician, is large enough for two frigates to be built simultaneously.
The Royal Navy is also buying 5 new Type 31 General Purpose Frigates – which are being built at Rosyth.
Greggs is to shed light on demand from customers as the high street bakery chain contends with the rise of weight loss treatments and cost of living pressures on shoppers.
The high street chain is also wrestling with other factors including increases to labour costs and tax changes.
As a result, on Tuesday March 3, Greggs is expected to reveal pre-tax profits of around £173 million for the year to December 27, representing a 9% drop.
In its previous update shortly after Christmas, Greggs pointed to a strong finish to 2025 as sales growth accelerated in the final quarter of the year.
Like-for-like sales growth rose from 1.5% in the third quarter to 2.9% in the final months of 2025.
Totals sales were up 7.4% in the final quarter amid a boost from the group’s continued store opening programme.
The company opened 121 stores last year.
However, analysts at Deutsche Bank said expectations “have already been set low” for 2026 and are “unlikely to change”.
In January, Greggs said it was “cautious but hopeful” about its outlook for 2026, highlighting “subdued” consumer confidence.
Roisin Currie, chief executive of Greggs, also warned alongside its previous update that there was “no doubt” appetite-suppressing medication is having an impact on the bakery chain’s business.
It may provide more detail on how this continues to change customer eating habits.
Meanwhile, the group also announced that inflation was likely to be shallower than last year.
The group increased the price on a number of products and deals last year, so shareholders will also be keen to see how these changes have continued to impact trading.
Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Investors are keen to hear how 2026 is shaping up in the early months.
“While the picture on the cost front is beginning to look more favourable, Greggs has plenty of other challenges still to wrestle with.
“Unhelpful changes to tax rules and minimum wages, slowing UK economic growth, and cost-conscious consumers are all weighing on the outlook.”
Yorkshire Cat Rescue in Haworth says it paid £282,000 in vet bills in 2025 and rescued 925 animals.
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Ashish Chauhan confirms National Stock Exchange will list its IPO on Bombay Stock Exchange, as Indian regulations bar self-listing.
The NSE operates the world’s busiest derivatives market by number of contracts traded.
The National Stock Exchange will look at other prominent exchanges like Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to list its upcoming IPO when it goes public. Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Ashish Chauhan told ANI that Indian regulations prohibit the exchange from self-listing.
The NSE operates the world’s busiest derivatives market by number of contracts traded.
Regulatory Framework Bars Self-Listing
Chauhan said Indian regulations prohibit a stock exchange from regulating and listing itself, requiring it to seek admission on another recognised platform. “It’s a regulation of India, and we have to abide by that,” he told ANI.
The comments follow the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) no-objection certificate, which clears a key hurdle for the exchange’s long-pending initial public offering (IPO). Chauhan confirmed that the NSE would pursue listing on an alternative exchange such as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Under India’s regulatory framework, exchanges cannot list on their own trading platforms due to conflict-of-interest concerns. Chauhan noted that while some global exchanges, such as Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), are listed on their own platforms, India’s rules do not permit such arrangements.
Offer For Sale Structure And Timeline
Chauhan said the IPO would be structured entirely as an Offer for Sale (OFS), with no fresh capital raised. “We are not going to raise money for ourselves,” he told ANI, adding that existing shareholders would be invited to indicate their interest in selling shares.
The exchange, which has nearly 195,000 shareholders collectively owning 100 percent of the company, will take a few months to prepare and file its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP). SEBI will then review the document before granting further clearance.
On valuation estimates of around USD 50 billion circulating in the market, Chauhan advised caution. Pricing, he said, would be determined closer to launch, based on financial performance, industry comparables, growth trends, and broader economic and geopolitical conditions. Merchant bankers appointed to the issue will advise the IPO committee on the offer price.
Transparency, Governance, And SME Inclusion
Chauhan described the IPO as procedural, aimed at providing liquidity to shareholders rather than funding expansion, noting that the exchange remains profitable.
He said public listing enhances transparency and governance through wider ownership and real-time disclosure requirements. Citing the example of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), he said governance standards improved following its listing.
In the same interview, Chauhan said India has positioned itself as a cost-effective and inclusive capital market, particularly for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). He contrasted domestic listing costs with those in developed markets such as the United States, where expenses can range between USD 20 million and USD 30 million.
“In India, people are raising USD 1–2 million also. So how much they are spending is probably 5 to 10 per cent of that money to list,” he told ANI, adding that India’s ecosystem of merchant bankers, legal advisers and compliance professionals supports SME participation.
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March 01, 2026, 09:10 IST
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