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MSA Safety Completes Acquisition of Autronica Fire and Security, a Leading Provider of Fire and Gas Detection and Alarm Systems

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PITTSBURGH, July 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE: MSA), a global leader in the development of advanced industrial safety technology products and solutions that protect people and facility infrastructure, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Autronica Fire and Security in a transaction valued at approximately $555 million. Based in Trondheim, Norway, Autronica is a designer, manufacturer and supplier of fire detection, gas detection and alarm systems, and reported approximately $160 million in sales in 2025. The acquisition aligns with MSA’s mission and Accelerate profitable growth strategy.

“We are excited to officially welcome Autronica to the MSA family,” said Steve Blanco, MSA Safety President and CEO. “The addition of this highly complementary business accelerates MSA’s fixed detection growth strategy by enhancing our ability to deliver integrated safety solutions across critical infrastructure, energy and marine applications.

“Autronica’s geographic footprint is also complementary to MSA’s current market reach and, together with its expertise and leadership in fire and gas safety systems, positions us well to expand into an attractive, growing $3 billion-plus addressable market while delivering on our mission,” Mr. Blanco added.

The transaction is expected to be accretive to MSA Safety’s adjusted earnings per share in the first full year of ownership, and was financed using cash on hand and borrowings under MSA’s existing credit facility.

About MSA Safety
MSA Safety Incorporated (NYSE: MSA) is the global leader in advanced industrial safety technology products and solutions. Driven by its singular mission of safety, the company has been at the forefront of safety innovation since 1914, protecting workers and facility infrastructure around the world across a broad range of diverse end markets while creating sustainable value for shareholders. With 2025 revenues of $1.9 billion, MSA Safety is headquartered in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, and employs a team of approximately 5,300 associates across its more than 40 international locations. For more information, please visit www.MSASafety.com.

About Autronica
Autronica, headquartered in Trondheim, Norway, is a leading innovator and provider of fire and gas detection systems. Serving the maritime, oil & gas, infrastructure, and industrial sectors, Autronica’s mission is to protect life, environment, and property through cutting-edge safety technology and dependable service. For more information, please visit www.autronicafire.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Except for historical information, certain matters discussed in this press release may be “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include but are not limited to all projections and anticipated levels of future performance, benefits and synergies of the transaction, future opportunities for the combined company and any other statements about MSA’s and Autronica’s managements’ future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or prospects. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those discussed herein. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from projections or forward-looking statements, including without limitation the ability of MSA to successfully integrate Autronica’s operations and employees, unexpected costs, changes or expenses resulting from the transaction, risks that the transaction disrupts the current plans and operations of MSA and Autronica, the ability to realize anticipated synergies, MSA’s ability to successfully grow Autronica’s business, potential adverse reactions or changes in business relationships resulting from the announcement of the transaction, the retention of key employees, global economic conditions, spending patterns of government agencies, competitive pressures, product liability claims, the success of new product introductions, currency exchange rate fluctuations and the risks of doing business in foreign countries. A full listing of these risks, uncertainties and other factors are detailed from time-to-time in our filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including our most recent Form 10-K filed on February 12, 2026. You are strongly urged to review all such filings for a more detailed discussion of such risks and uncertainties. MSA’s SEC filings are readily obtainable at www.sec.gov, as well as on its own investor relations website at http://investors.MSAsafety.com. MSA undertakes no duty to publicly update any forward-looking statements contained herein, except as required by law.

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SOURCE MSA Safety

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Tencent Cloud PalmAI Unveils Palm X, Bringing Palm Verification to Standard RGB Cameras

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SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Tencent Cloud, the cloud business of global technology company Tencent, has unveiled Palm X, a new palmprint verification solution. As an extension of its PalmAI technology, Palm X is specifically designed to be compatible with standard RGB cameras. By extending palm verification to widely available camera-equipped devices such as smartphones, Palm X enables enterprises to integrate palm-based identity verification into mobile applications and digital services without requiring dedicated palm-scanning hardware.

Palm verification has traditionally been associated with fixed offline terminals equipped with specialized biometric devices; however, Palm X expands its potential applications by providing businesses with a more flexible way to introduce palm verification into digital user journeys by offering a software-based alternative.

Extending Palm Verification Beyond Dedicated Hardware

Palm X uses standard RGB cameras to capture and verify palmprints without requiring dedicated infrared or palm-vein scanning hardware. Users can enroll and verify their palmprints through supported camera-equipped devices, making the technology easier to integrate into existing mobile applications and online services.

The solution supports 1:1 identity verification and one-to-many palmprint matching within defined enrolled user groups. With 1:1 verification, a live palmprint is matched against the palmprint associated with a specified user identity. One-to-many matching searches within an enrolled group to help identify a user or detect duplicate enrollments.

Palm X also incorporates liveness detection mechanisms designed to help mitigate presentation attacks, such as those involving photos and screen replays. This allows enterprises to use palm verification in scenarios requiring both identity confirmation and protection against common spoofing attempts.

For enterprise deployment, Palm X can be seamlessly integrated into existing authentication and risk-control systems through mobile SDKs and backend APIs. Rather than replacing an organization’s current identity infrastructure, it can serve as a complementary authentication factor alongside passwords, SMS verification codes, facial verification, passkeys, and other methods.

Businesses can introduce palm verification at different stages of the user journey according to their security requirements, user experience goals, and risk levels. The use of standard cameras also minimizes reliance on dedicated terminals, allowing palm verification to extend from fixed offline environments to mobile applications and digital workflows.

Supporting a Wider Range of Identity Scenarios

Palm X supports a wider range of identity scenarios by addressing the growing enterprise need for verification methods that balance user experience, privacy, and ease of deployment.

In financial services, Palm X can complement existing authentication processes in scenarios such as account login and identity confirmation. Enterprises can integrate it alongside existing authentication methods based on their business and security requirements.

For Web3 communities and digital platforms, Palm X can support user verification and help detect duplicate enrollments. It can be applied to scenarios such as trusted account registration, community access, and campaign participation.

Palm X can also support membership programs and online-to-offline (O2O) service scenarios. Once enrolled, users can verify their identity for check-ins, membership recognition, benefit redemption, or service access without relying solely on physical cards or other credentials.

Unlike biometric features that may appear in publicly shared photos or videos, palmprints typically require users to deliberately present their palms for capture. This ensures palm verification remains a highly intentional interaction while reducing biometric exposure in public imagery.

Making palm verification easier to integrate across industries

“Facial recognition is widely adopted for identity verification today, while businesses and users are also looking for more diverse approaches to biometric verification. With Palm X, we are introducing a palmprint-based option that is compatible with standard RGB cameras, making palm verification easier to integrate into existing digital services while giving users a more intentional way to verify their identity,” said Sine, Director of Palm X Product at Tencent Cloud.

Palm X marks Tencent Cloud PalmAI’s latest step in expanding palm verification beyond dedicated biometric hardware. By combining palmprint verification, liveness detection, mobile SDKs, and backend APIs, the solution offers enterprises a flexible option for introducing palm-based verification into their existing services.

Looking ahead, Tencent Cloud PalmAI will continue collaborating with customers and ecosystem partners worldwide to explore how palm verification can be applied for secure identity verification, digital platforms, membership services, and other business environments.

Learn more about Palm X: Palm X — Palm Recognition & Palm Verification SDK for Smartphone Cameras

About Tencent Cloud

Tencent Cloud, one of the world’s leading cloud companies, is committed to creating innovative solutions to resolve real-world issues and enabling digital transformation for smart industries. Through our extensive global infrastructure, Tencent Cloud provides businesses across the globe with stable and secure industry-leading cloud products and services, leveraging technological advancements such as cloud computing, Big Data analytics, AI, IoT, and cybersecurity. It is our constant mission to meet the needs of industries across the board, including the fields of gaming, media and entertainment, finance, healthcare, real estate, retail, travel, and transportation. 

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SOURCE Tencent Cloud

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Plainly Launches Plainly Flows, a Workflow Automation Platform for Creative Teams

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The new product lets creative teams turn their repetitive creative work into automated workflows that any team can operate.

LONDON, Sept. 24, 2026 /CNW/ — Plainly, the company behind video automation platform Plainly Videos, today launched Plainly Flows, a workflow automation platform that lets creative teams set up their production workflow once and put asset creation directly into the hands of teams requesting them.

Marketing teams, local branches, and agency clients regularly need creative assets. Getting them means submitting a request, waiting for a designer, and repeating the same production process that ran last time. Creative teams spend a significant portion of their time executing repeatable work rather than building new things. Plainly Flows automates that repeatable work and puts it directly in the hands of the people requesting it.

Creative teams build workflows by setting up video templates, adding AI generation steps, and defining which elements change through inputs. End users fill out inputs through a simple interface, and Plainly Flows generates high-quality, on-brand assets based on the workflow.

During the beta, a B2B company used Plainly Flows to send personalized CEO avatar videos to customers every quarter, pulling in usage data and milestones automatically. Their customer success team now produces 50 to 70 personalized renewal videos per month in 2 to 3 minutes each. A different customer uses the platform to generate event graphics on-site through a phone, outputting finished video in three aspect ratios through a single workflow.

“Most automation tools were built around business data, not creative files,” said Nebojša Savičić, CEO of Plainly. “Plainly Flows lets creative teams encode their production knowledge into a workflow anyone in the organization can run.”

Plainly Flows is available now at https://plainlyflows.com/.

About Plainly

Plainly is a London-based automation company for creative production. Its first product, Plainly Videos, is a cloud-based video automation platform built on native Adobe After Effects rendering and an official Adobe Video Technology Partner, used by organizations including WPP Production and UNICEF Australia. Plainly Flows is its second product. Learn more at plainlyvideos.com

 

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SOURCE Plainly

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AI Moves from Optional to Essential: Canton Fair Service Robots to Showcase Real-World Problem Solving

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GUANGZHOU, China, Sept. 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The 140th Canton Fair will open on October 15, bringing together a new generation of AI-powered robotics solutions. As AI becomes a standard feature across industries, competition is shifting from whether products use AI to how effectively they use it to solve real-world challenges.

AI Brings Intelligent Companionship to Home and Eldercare

In home and elderly care settings, AI transforms robots from single-function executors into intelligent companions, capable of emotional interaction and health monitoring for users of all ages.

Through AI-powered emotion recognition and conversation capabilities, the companion robot helps reduce loneliness and emotional stress while maintaining a simple, intuitive user experience.

An Eldercare Robot integrates health monitoring, medication reminders, video consultations, fall detection, emergency alerts, remote caregiving and daily companionship functions into a single platform designed specifically for older users.

AI Improves Efficiency in Food Service and Cleaning Operations

In catering and cleaning, AI drives autonomous decision-making and multi-robot coordination to lower operating costs and enhance service consistency.

For instance, embodied robot platforms designed for food-service environments can combine compliant service functions with lightweight collaborative arms, enabling robots to perform a wider range of tasks safely and efficiently.

For public-space maintenance, the smart cleaning robot combines autonomous driving and AI-powered waste recognition with fully unmanned cleaning, docking, charging and replenishment capabilities for round-the-clock operation.

AI Enhances Emergency Response in High-Risk Environments

In emergency response, AI enables robots to operate in conditions that challenge human safety and endurance.

For example, explosion-proof fire reconnaissance robots can operate in hazardous environments involving fire, smoke, toxic gases and explosive materials. Combining AI-powered reconnaissance with a high-flow firefighting cannon, it supports precise fire detection and suppression while minimizing danger to rescue personnel.

From consumer-focused emotional companionship to industrial-grade operations, AI is transforming robots from conventional automated machines into intelligent systems with greater autonomy and interactive capabilities. As technology continues to reshape human-machine collaboration, visitors to the 140th Canton Fair are invited to discover how AI is delivering tangible value by solving real-world challenges across industries and everyday life.

For pre-registration, please click:
https://buyer.cantonfair.org.cn/register/buyer/email?source_type=16

 

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SOURCE Canton Fair

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