The Government’s former chief digital officer Mike Potter has joined the board of UKAI, the business trade association for Britain’s artificial intelligence industry.

Potter, who served as CDO from 2022 to 2024, led the Government’s digital, data and technology strategy across departments through the Central Digital and Data Office.

Over more than two decades, he delivered major transformation programmes across organisations including HMRC, the NHS, the Environment Agency, the Rural Payments Agency and Thames Water.

In his new role at UKAI, Potter will focus on enabling the organisation to support officials across government as they adopt AI to improve productivity and transform public services.

Moneypenny has appointed two new business development managers, Kevin Love-Hughes and Casey Lewis, as the company continues to scale its sector expertise and accelerate growth of its AI receptionist and customer communication solutions.

Kevin Love-Hughes, former head of sales – EMEA at RPost, joins to focus on supporting organisations across the financial services sector, including insurance, lending and credit, accounting, wealth and investment, payroll and FinTech.

Casey Lewis will lead business development across the automotive sector, working with dealerships, fleet operators and EV-focused businesses.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Shares in The Mission Group plc have dropped sharply in early trading today after it reported a swing from profit to a huge loss in its latest annual results.

The agency collective, which issued a profit warning in January amid ‘macroeconomic uncertainty’, said revenues fell 21% in 2025 to £68.8 million.

It swung from £2.9m profit before tax in 2024 to an £18.8m loss in 2025.

The firm, which in 2024 snubbed a £32m takeover from fellow listed tech agency group Brave Bison, said completions of some of its major projects have carried over into 2026, which has impacted FY2025 revenues.

Its market cap stands below £13.4m after an 18% fall this morning. The share price has dropped from around 50 pence in summer 2023 to 14.7p at the time of writing.

 

Author: Chris Maguire

TalkTalk Business has made its first acquisition following its demerger from TalkTalk Group.

The Manchester-based B2B telecoms and managed service provider has acquired managed IT and cybersecurity specialist, Planet IT.

The strategic move strengthens both organisations’ ability to support businesses across the UK with secure, reliable technology services.

The undisclosed deal forms part of TalkTalk Business’s plans to expand its managed services offering.

Gamma Communications plc has reported growth in revenues for 2025 – but profits dropped.

The communications technology firm said revenues were £645.8m, up 11% on 2024, while profit before tax was £87.7m, down 8%.

Gamma said recently that it had appointed a new CFO to succeed the departing Bill Castell.

Bytes Technology Group plc has reported its results for the year ended 28th February 2026.

The software, security, AI and cloud services specialist, based in Surrey, said it had recorded double-digit gross invoiced income growth and operating profit of c.£62m.

In the previous year, gross invoiced income comfortably exceeded £2bn for the first time, while adjusted operating profit was £63.3m.

In FY25 it reported revenues of £207m, but it neglected to inform the market of revenues for FY26 this morning.

It said that from July 2026, Bytes Software Services would focus on the private sector, and Phoenix Software on the public sector.

Journeo plc has reported increases in revenue and profits for 2025.

The provider of tech for transport networks, based in Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, said revenue increased 11% to £55m while adjusted profit before tax increased 13% to £5.7m.

Cash and cash equivalents at 31st December 2025 were £12m (2024: £14.3m).

Trustpilot Plc has appointed Marcus Roy as CFO.

Roy will join the open customer feedback platform on 14th September 2026 and succeed Hanno Damm, who, as previously announced, will be stepping down after over a decade with the company.

Roy joins Trustpilot from The Economist Group, where he has served as group CFO since 2021 and overseen its shift to a digital-first, subscription-led model, while simultaneously building the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) into a leading global B2B data and analytics business.

He was previously group financial controller at Associated British Foods Plc, a FTSE 100 multinational, and before that spent over 14 years in a series of progressively senior finance roles at Dixons Carphone Plc and Carphone Warehouse Plc.

YouGov, the international research and data analytics group, has announced that Shalini Govil-Pai has informed the board of her intention to step down as a non-executive director following the end of her three-year term.

Govil-Pai said the decision was due to additional time requirements arising from her other business commitments. The change will take effect from today.

Based in the US, she serves as general manager and vice president of TV at Google. Additionally, she is an independent director on the board of Prime Focus Limited, a Fortune India 500 company.

For the six months ended 31st January 2026, YouGov reported revenues of  £194.8m – up 2% on the corresponding period the year before – and statutory profit before tax of £8.6m, up 4%.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Revolut’s profit before tax in 2025 reached a record £1.7 billion before it began its transition into a full bank.

PBT was up 57% on 2024 levels with a margin of 38%, up from 35% in the previous year.

Revenue surged to £4.5bn (2024: £3.1bn) at the London FinTech as it delivered its fifth consecutive year of net profitability.  It said 11 different product lines each exceeded £100m in revenue.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Sports nutrition brand Huel has been acquired by food giant Danone in a deal worth €1 billion.

Dragons’ Den star and Diary of a CEO host Steven Bartlett hailed the firm as a “Great British success story” on LinkedIn and said he had shared a phone call with founder Julian Hearn this morning.

In 2024 Bartlett came under fire after he promoted Huel on Facebook without disclosing that he was a director at the firm. In two ads subsequently banned by the Advertising Standards Authority, Bartlett was shown drinking a supplement beverage and claiming it was the best product released by the company to that date.

Bartlett then stepped down as a director of Huel last year.

“what a ride! had a beautiful, emotional & reflective call with Huel’s founder Julian Hearn this morning as the news broke!” he wrote today.

“This company changed my life in so many ways… as a customer, an investor, a board member and as a partner.

“And it serves as a great reminder that successful category defining companies can come out the UK AND can come outside of London!

“This company beat all the odds – a great British success story! ❤️👊🏾

“So happy for all the team!”

The Financial Conduct Authority has opened an investigation into collapsed mortgage lender MFS amid allegations of fraud.

Market Financial Solutions Limited, which is based in Mayfair, London, entered administration last month owing billions.

A worldwide asset-freezing order has been imposed on founder and CEO Paresh Raja, who is based in Dubai, by administrators AlixPartners. He is limited to spending £5,000 per week without consent.

The chairman of two listed investment funds has passed away.

Nigel Cayzer has chaired Oryx International Growth Fund, a Guernsey-based investor listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, since 1995.

He has also chaired Aberdeen Asian Smaller Companies Investment Trust PLC since 1995.

Shares in FTSE 250 firm Goodwin plc have dropped 35% today after it revealed it had lost two significant tenders.

The historic engineering firm, founded in 1883, revealed the loss of two tenders worth around £60 million.

“The mechanical engineering division has been disappointed by the outcome of two significant tenders during the period,” it stated to the London Stock Exchange.

 

Author: Jonathan Symcox

hedgehog lab has appointed industry stalwart Julian Leighton as its new chair as the Newcastle-headquartered global product design consultancy continues to roll out its ambitious growth plans.

Leighton brings nearly 30 years’ tech experience to the firm, having cut his teeth with IBM business partners before co-founding digital agency Orange Bus with Mike Parker in 2006. 

Together, they scaled the business from two to 150 people before it was sold to then FTSE 100-listed outsourcer Capita 10 years later. 

Author: Chris Maguire

Whisper it quietly, but could THG drop out of the FTSE 250 Index (again)?

The Manchester-headquartered online retailer only returned to the prestigious FTSE 250 in September 2025 — three months after exiting when its share price dipped to 25p.

The company’s share price has been up and down like a rollercoaster ever since — topping 50p in January on the back of a stellar Q4 2025 trading update — but it is now back at 28p, giving it a market cap of £467.51m.

The share price woes have raised the possibility that THG could suffer the ignominy of dropping out of the FTSE 250 again unless it can turn its fortunes around.

However, talk of THG’s demise is premature for several reasons.

 

Annual revenues fell at Blackbird plc in 2025 while losses widened.

The AIM-listed firm is a technology licensor, developer and seller of a cloud-native video editing platform, Blackbird, and elevate.io, a ‘multiplayer’ editor available via browsers.

Revenues were £1.38m for the 12 months to 31st December 2025, down 14% year-on-year, primarily due to the loss of some deals in the Blackbird division together with the non-recurring revenues from the global Summer games in 2024.

The net loss for the year was £2.61m compared to a net loss of £2.35m in 2024.

The firm had 388 paying subscriber numbers as at 16th March 2026.

A placing, management subscription and retail offer recently raised around £2.13m – before expenses – to fund elevate.io through its product-market fit phase.

Half-year losses have widened at Quadrise Plc.

The London company is focused on the decarbonisation of shipping and heavy industry through deployment of low emission fuels and biofuels.

For the six months ended 31st December 2025, loss after tax was £2 million (H1 2025: £1.7m).

This included production and development costs of £1m, the firm said, which was £200k more than the corresponding period in the prior year. Administration expenses remained steady at £900,000.

The company’s strategy is to generate demand within the shipping industry and other sectors, while stimulating the supply of its fuels around global marine bunkering hubs.

Heidi Giles, the CFO of Optima Health plc, is to leave the company at the end of July.

The tech provider of corporate health and wellbeing solutions said that subject to the successful completion of the recently announced acquisition of PAM Healthcare, Optima will appoint Andrew Bones as interim CFO.

Gaming publisher Gfinity has reported positive half-year results.

The listed company, which closed its eSports division in 2023 after years of hosting tournaments and fielding teams, now comprises Gfinity Digital Media (a network of websites and related social platforms covering games and gamers), Connected IQ (a technology platform for connected TV and online video advertising) and Yentra.ai (an AI consulting and engineering business unit which is 51% owned by the company).

For the six-month period ended 31st December 2025, revenue increased 8% to £421,381, reflecting continued recovery in Gfinity Digital Media and initial contributions from Connected IQ.

Operating loss reduced to £220,082 (H1 FY25: £271,285), reflecting the combined benefits of revenue growth, improved margin quality and disciplined cost management, Gfinity said.