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Leap Selects Worksmith’s Progress Retail Suite to Advance Operations Across 100+ Stores

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The expanded Progress Retail deployment deepens Leap’s platform — adding advanced capabilities for audits, associate training, communications, and AI-powered support across the 100+ stores Leap runs to drive unparalleled advantages for 50+ brand partners.

AUSTIN, Texas, April 27, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — Worksmith, the leading facilities maintenance and experience platform for multi-location retail, today announced that Leap, the leading platform for physical retail, has signed with Progress Retail to implement its full workforce management suite. The expansion strengthens Leap’s operating foundation across the 100+ stores it powers for modern brands — unifying facilities service and workforce execution into a single operational layer.

The expanded Progress Retail deployment deepens Leap’s platform — adding advanced capabilities for audits, associate training, communications, and AI-powered support across the 100+ stores Leap runs to drive unparalleled advantages for 50+ brand partners.

For Worksmith, Leap’s deployment is a clear proof point for the combined workplace-and-workforce platform the company set out to build when it acquired Progress Retail in June 2025.

Leap is a longtime Worksmith customer, making this expansion especially notable as the company deepens its relationship across both sides of retail operations. With this deployment, Leap will implement the full Progress Retail suite, including audits, tasks, training, communications, ticketing, and full AI Sidekick.

Leap joins a growing roster of retailers leveraging the soon-to-be combined solution, including Faherty Brand, M.M.LaFleur, and Lume, that are moving toward a more unified operating model across stores. The momentum reflects a broader shift in retail: brands want stronger orchestration across facilities, audits, tasks, training, and store communications, rather than relying on disconnected systems.

“Brands like Bombas, Malbon Golf, and Ring Concierge work with Leap because we deliver scaled advantages that no single brand can build on its own,” said Jon Levy, EVP Retail Success at Leap. “Combining our platform with Worksmith’s facilities infrastructure and Progress Retail’s workforce suite gives the brands we power retail for real structural advantages: lower costs, better in-store execution and crisp communications between HQ and the sales floor. These advantages lead to better store performance and a better shopping experience.”

Integration work between Worksmith and Progress Retail is currently underway, with the combined platform designed to give retailers a more complete operating system for store execution. As part of that evolution, Worksmith expects to complete the rebrand of Progress Retail to Worksmith Workforce in early Q2 2026.

“When we acquired Progress Retail last June, the bet was simple: retailers shouldn’t have to duct-tape workforce and workplace together, said Bryan Burkhart, Founder & CEO of Worksmith “Leap — the platform 50+ brands trust to run 100+ stores so they can stay focused on what they do best — choosing to run our full stack is the clearest signal yet that the bet is paying off.”

Leap’s selection of Progress Retail further validates the market’s appetite for unified retail operations technology. As retailers look to improve execution, consistency, and agility across their store fleets, the convergence of workforce management and workplace operations is becoming increasingly strategic. For Leap and its 50+ brand partners, that convergence translates directly into brand-partner stores — powering tighter service response, more consistent execution of brand standards, and better-prepared associates across every location Leap operates.

Leap operates more than 100 single-brand stores across 11 markets on behalf of 50+ brand partners, running each location under that brand’s name, visual identity, and standards. Leap’s investment in tooling like Progress Retail — spread across that full store network — is enterprise-grade retail operations muscle that a growing brand couldn’t justify building for a handful of stores on its own.

Ray Riley, Progress Retail’s previous CEO, now Worksmith’s Vice President of Retail, added, “We built Progress Retail for the operators who refuse to let complexity water down the customer experience. Leap is a sharp example of that discipline — running 100+ stores as if each one were the brand’s flagship. Getting our full suite into that environment is the kind of partnership that makes the last nine years of building worth it.”

For Worksmith, the announcement reinforces the company’s vision of serving as the strategic operating layer for modern retail — connecting maintenance, service execution, workforce workflows, communications, and store performance in one ecosystem.

About Worksmith

Worksmith is the leading facilities maintenance and store experience platform for multi-location retail. The company helps brands and operators manage the physical workplace at scale through streamlined service delivery, maintenance coordination, and operational visibility. Following its acquisition of Progress Retail in June 2025, Worksmith is expanding its platform to unify workplace and workforce operations for retailers seeking stronger execution across every store.

About Progress Retail

Progress Retail is a retail workforce management and store operations platform built for modern multi-location brands. Its suite supports store teams through tools for audits, tasks, training, communications, ticketing, and AI-powered knowledge access. In the G2 Spring 2026 Reports, Progress Retail earned significant recognition in Retail Task Management and related categories, including a #1 Mid-Market Relationship Index ranking for Retail Task Management, Top 3 placement across nine reports, and badges spanning Best Relationship, Easiest To Do Business With, High Performer, and Momentum Leader distinctions. Progress Retail is being rebranded as Worksmith Workforce in early Q2 2026.

About Leap

Leap is the leading platform for physical retail, operating physical stores on behalf of modern brands with less cost, complexity, and risk. Founded in 2018, Leap runs a national network of 100+ single-brand stores across 11 markets for more than 50 brand partners — each one built, staffed, and operated under that brand’s name — combining real estate, design, store operations, technology, and in-store execution into a single turnkey solution. Leap’s model lets brands scale their physical footprint while staying focused on what they do best.

Media Contact

Iprita Bhattari, Worksmith, 1 8337472428, hello@progressretail.com, https://worksmith.com

Twitter, LinkedIn

View original content:https://www.prweb.com/releases/leap-selects-worksmiths-progress-retail-suite-to-advance-operations-across-100-stores-302753502.html

SOURCE Worksmith

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Hexagon Composites ASA: Eirik Løhre appointed permanent CFO

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OSLO, Norway, May 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Reference is made to the stock exchange announcement dated 11 November 2025, where Eirik Løhre was appointed interim CFO in Hexagon Composites.

The Company is pleased to inform that Eirik Løhre has been appointed permanently to the role of CFO in Hexagon Composites, effective today.

Eirik Løhre has been with the Company since 2021 and prior to his role as interim CFO, he served as EVP Corporate Development on the Executive Team.  

“Eirik has demonstrated strong financial leadership and execution, and he has been instrumental in strengthening our financial performance. I look forward to continuing our work together to develop and position Hexagon in this next phase of growth,” said Philipp Schramm, CEO, Hexagon Composites. 

For more information:
Berit-Cathrin Høyvik, Senior Director, Communications, Hexagon Composites
Tel: +47 988 92 161, berit-cathrin.hoyvik@hexagongroup.com

About Hexagon Composites ASA
Hexagon delivers safe and innovative solutions for a cleaner energy future. Our solutions enable storage, transportation and conversion to clean energy in a wide range of mobility and industrial applications. Learn more at www.hexagongroup.com and follow @HexagonASA on LinkedIn.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/hexagon-composites-asa/r/hexagon-composites-asa–eirik-lohre-appointed-permanent-cfo,c4344308

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/hexagon-composites-asa-eirik-lohre-appointed-permanent-cfo-302762250.html

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LONGPORT Whale Enters Malaysian Market with Next Generation Trading Infrastructure for Local Brokerages

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LONGPORT Whale, with proven track record across 100+ institutional clients in Asia, makes its Malaysia debut at Bursa Malaysia Stockbroking Trade Fair 2026

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, May 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — LONGPORT Whale, a provider of AI-Ready securities trading infrastructure, is making its entry into the Malaysian market at the Bursa Malaysia Stockbroking Trade Fair 2026. The move comes as Malaysia’s Capital Market Masterplan 2026–2030 (CMP4) continues to hone in on local brokerages to modernise core systems, balancing investor experience, regulatory compliance, and operational resilience simultaneously.

Malaysian brokerages are increasingly confronted by a challenge that goes beyond front-end upgrades. Legacy architectures struggle to keep pace with digital-native investor expectations, rising cybersecurity standards, and the demand for multi-market expansion simultaneously. For many such brokerages, the question is no longer whether to modernize, but how to do so without adding complexity or disrupting the business continuity that clients depend on.

Zhong Hua, CEO, LONGPORT Whale, said, “Core trading infrastructure must support continuous evolution — in investor experience, compliance, and AI readiness — without adding unnecessary complexity. The brokerages that lead the next decade won’t be the ones with the best system today; they’ll be the ones whose systems are designed to keep getting better. LONGPORT Whale aims to bring its Asia-proven experience to help Malaysian brokers strike that balance.”

Built on a cloud-native microservices architecture and trusted by more than 100 institutional clients in Asia, Whale’s platform is engineered by industry professionals and refined through years of first-hand operational experience. For the Malaysian market, it addresses four priorities: a best-in-class trading experience validated across competitive, highly regulated markets in Asia; system resilience and performance built for institutional scale, with high system performance and output, real time risk management, and low system latency; global market connectivity spanning Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, US, and Japan without requiring system rebuilds; and an API-first, data-unified architecture that gives brokerages a practical foundation for AI adoption.

Hong Kong SAR and Singapore, where Whale serves online brokers, traditional banking firms, banks and wealth management institutes in a stringent regulatory environment, serve as the primary reference market for its Malaysia expansion. The company said it aims to work with local industry participants as both an infrastructure partner and a contributor to broader conversation on responsible modernization under CMP4.

About LONGPORT Whale

LONGPORT Whale provides integrated securities trading infrastructure to brokers, banks, fund houses, wealth managers, and family offices across Asia. Its cloud-native platform supports multi-market, multi-asset trading across front-, middle-, and back-office workflows, with a deployment model designed for regulatory alignment and long-term scalability. Website: www.longportwhale.com

Media Contact
LONGPORT Whale PR Team
Email: media@longportwhale.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/longport-whale-enters-malaysian-market-with-next-generation-trading-infrastructure-for-local-brokerages-302761411.html

SOURCE LONGPORT Whale

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Thunes and Vodacom Tanzania Unite to Power Cross-Border M-Pesa Payments Across China and Uganda

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Collaboration revolutionises trade & financial convenience for Tanzanian merchants and consumers

SINGAPORE, May 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Thunes, the Smart Superhighway to move money around the world, has joined forces with Vodacom Tanzania, the country’s leading telco company, to transform cross-border trade and digital financial inclusion with Vodacom’s new M-Pesa Global Payment solution. Thanks to the collaboration, Vodacom customers in Tanzania can now seamlessly pay merchants in Uganda and China directly from their mobile phones.

This milestone solution responds to growing demand from Tanzanian traders who engage in commerce with Ugandan and Chinese markets but often face challenges with costly, slow, and insecure payment methods. With this innovation, leveraging the Thunes Direct Global Network, Vodacom aims to bridge those gaps, offering secure, real-time digital payments across borders and reinforcing its leadership in mobile money innovation in Africa.

The solution supports trade with two key markets for Tanzania. For eight consecutive years, China has been Tanzania’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade hitting $8.8 billion in 2024. In the same year, bilateral trade between Tanzania and Uganda reached approximately $2.23 billion, an increase of 64% on the previous year.

Epimack Mbeteni, M-Pesa Director at Vodacom Tanzania said: “This is more than just a payment feature, it is a catalyst for economic empowerment and a gateway for small and medium businesses and entrepreneurs in Tanzania to compete and thrive in regional and global markets. Through Thunes’ expansive and trusted Network we are enabling seamless, secure, and affordable cross-border payments that empower people, fuel trade and place M-Pesa at the center of Africa’s digital commerce future.”

Through Thunes’ Direct Global Network, customers can now send payments to merchants in Uganda using MTN MoMo and to Chinese merchants through the Alipay network, all through the M-Pesa USSD menu or the M-Pesa Super App. The process is secure, user-friendly, and eliminates the burden of traditional banking barriers for everyday traders and businesses.

Dawei Wang, SVP Network at Thunes, added: “Vodacom Tanzania joining the Thunes Direct Global Network to digitise cross-border payments is a game changer for local businesses. By combining Vodacom’s technology with Thunes’ trusted and proprietary Network, Tanzanian customers can pay partners in China and Uganda in real time. This innovation accelerates interoperability along with international trade and business growth and supports our vision of connecting the next billion end users to the global economy.”

This initiative stands as a strategic enabler for consumers and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) who need reliable and quick financial tools such as mobile money. A 2025 GeoPoll survey on Tanzania Financial Services and Usage found that 94% of the survey’s respondents use mobile money.

The Thunes and Vodacom Tanzania alliance is set to transform the lives of millions of consumers by dismantling cross-border barriers. By hyper-connecting Tanzania to global powerhouses like China and streamlining intra-African trade, the collaboration is helping to build an inclusive economy and grow Tanzania’s role as a force in the global market.

About Vodacom Tanzania

For more information, visit: https://www.vodacom.co.tz/

About Thunes

For more information, visit: https://www.thunes.com/

Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2831061/Thunes_Logo.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/thunes-and-vodacom-tanzania-unite-to-power-cross-border-m-pesa-payments-across-china-and-uganda-302760085.html

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