Some of the UK’s biggest listed banks are slightly on the rise today after the Bank of England confirmed the major lenders had passed its latest stress tests and lowered the benchmark tier-one capital requirement.

Lloyds (1.51%) and Standard Chartered (1.28%) are two members of the FTSE 100 which have seen their shares increase. 

Land Securities (2.33%) and British Land (2.26%) have also moved higher, with telecommunications giant Vodafone (1.54%) up too, just a day after Virgin Media was hit with a big Ofcom fine.

Victrex (6.41%) is the standout riser in the FTSE 250 after announcing its ‘profit improvement plan’, whilst the FTSE 100’s Rightmove (-1.58%) and Auto Trader (-1.58%) have fallen. 

Among the sharper FTSE 250 decliners, Foresight Group Holdings (-7.37%) is down despite its positive half-year results which were published this morning. 

Oxford Nanopore (-6.40%), XPS Pensions (-4.50%), Ithaca Energy (-3.40%) and Ceres Power (-2.87%) are also in the red today.

Save My Exams has forecast a 41% rise in revenue for 2025 as more students move revision online. 

The London-based EdTech platform, launched in 2017, expects to hit 2.5 million registered users and is predicting a 95% year-on-year jump in registrations by the end of the year. 

Covering qualifications from GCSE and IGCSE through to A Level, IB, AP, National 5 and O Level, the company has built its content around specialist teacher-led resources. 

Growth has been supported by faster expansion into the US, the launch of its AI marking tool Smart Mark and a broader product offer aimed at teachers.

TSB has named Serene, AVIEL Intelligence and Tunic Pay as winners of its 2025 Innovation Labs programme, with all three FinTechs now set to work with the bank as suppliers within its fraud prevention efforts. 

The programme, delivered with FinTech Scotland, focused on finding practical tools to tackle a rising fraud problem after UK Finance data showed criminals stole more than £620 million in the first half of 2025. 

Serene will pilot predictive behavioural intelligence to spot and protect vulnerable customers earlier, AVIEL Intelligence will apply AI-augmented intelligence gathering to detect emerging fraud patterns and mule accounts, and Tunic Pay will help TSB pause and assess suspicious transactions without slowing legitimate ones.

YFM Equity Partners has appointed Adam Milner as its new portfolio director, strengthening its national portfolio team and increasing capacity to support value creation across more high-growth businesses. 

Milner joins from Endless, where he spent six years managing SME growth and MBO investments, after senior industry roles and seven years at KPMG. The hire follows several recent appointments across the Leeds-based firm’s investment and portfolio teams, including new investment managers in London and Leeds. 

YFM invests £3 million-£15m in fast-growing UK companies and manages more than £750m in funds through offices nationwide.

Intelligent Core has raised £2 million in a funding round led by Fuel Ventures, with participation from Plug & Play Tech Center and Helion Partners, following a £500k raise earlier this year. 

The AI-powered company provides real-time, autonomous intelligence for industrial sectors such as energy, oil and gas, water, manufacturing and transport, using live sensor and equipment data to deliver instant visibility, forecasting and automated decision-making. 

Its INTELLIGENT CORE platform is designed to run in the cloud, on-premises or at the edge, bringing AI directly into remote and mission-critical environments. 

The fresh capital will be used to scale the team, push forward hardware product development and support larger global deployments, as the London-based company targets modernising legacy industrial infrastructure and helping operators cut costs, downtime and emissions.

True Potential Group has appointed Laura McCall as its first chief people officer, making a permanent hire into a newly created executive role. 

She will take up the position in early 2026 and be based at the wealth manager’s headquarters in Newcastle, leading a values-led people strategy as the group enters its next growth phase under CEO Gerry Mallon. 

McCall brings 17 years of senior HR experience in financial services, including roles at Scottish National Investment Bank, Martin Currie, NatWest and Baillie Gifford. 

True Potential, which manages close to £37 billion of platform assets and supports more than 590,000 clients, says the appointment reinforces its focus on investing in people alongside its tech-driven advice model.

Palatine Private Equity has appointed Eloise Veljovic as head of investor relations as it strengthens its senior leadership team. 

She joins from Pomona Capital, where she was a director leading investor relations across Europe and the Middle East and previously held roles at Alpstone Capital and Hollyport Capital. 

Veljovic will work alongside the company’s partners across its buyout, impact and growth credit strategies. 

She is set to start in January 2026 as Palatine continues to scale its investor engagement and fundraising activity.

S&W has strengthened its consulting arm with the acquisition of Fredward, a London-based financial services management and data consultancy. 

The deal brings all 45 Fredward colleagues into the business, including two partners and six directors, adding expertise in financial services data transformation and management. 

It follows the recent move to make consulting a standalone business line within S&W, designed to simplify access to services such as transformation, regulatory, accounting, risk advisory, technology and data. 

Fredward is the sixth business S&W has acquired since launching in March 2025 with Apax Funds backing, underlining the group’s rapid expansion strategy.

Leasing Options has promoted Ben Durkin to chief technology officer (CTO) to lead the next phase of technology investment.

Durkin has been instrumental in building Leasing Options’ in-house technology – from its bespoke website, CRM and workflow platform to the tools that power pricing, quotations and end-to-end sales and automated back office operations.

Nigel Brain, co-founder and CEO of Manchester-based Leasing Options, said: “Ben has been central to our growth story for almost 20 years, and his promotion to group CTO is both well-deserved and pivotal to our next chapter.

“As we navigate the exciting opportunities and challenges that come with embracing new technologies, Ben’s leadership will be instrumental in ensuring we maintain our customer focus and competitive edge while expanding into new product areas.”

Durkin added: “I’m incredibly proud of what our team has built and achieved so far.

“Our focus is simple – stay relentlessly customer-focused, give customers total confidence throughout their journey, and provide our colleagues with tools that are lightning fast, intuitive, and built for scalability and efficiency – all while maintaining the highest standards of compliance in everything we do.

“We will continue to invest heavily in our platform and explore new technologies that keep Leasing Options ahead of the market.”

 

 

HotHouse Therapeutics has raised £2.9 million in pre-seed funding as it comes out of stealth, backing its mission to develop sustainable, scalable pharmaceuticals using AI-optimised plant-based chemistry. 

The Norwich-based startup, supported by SynBioVen, Start Codon, UKI2S, Twin Path Ventures, Wren Capital, angel investors and an Innovate UK grant, is initially targeting the vaccine industry’s reliance on QS-21, which is currently sourced from the bark of a slow-growing Chilean tree. 

HotHouse says its AI-powered plant bioengineering platform can produce QS-21 and related adjuvants through bioengineered plants grown anywhere, cutting supply-chain fragility and improving access for low and middle-income countries.

Author: Chris Maguire

Manchester-based FinTech AccessPay has appointed Richard Dew as  director of GSI (GRC, Security and Internal IT) and Ian Clarke as chief technology officer (CTO).

Dew previously led various global functions at HSBC dealing with security, risk, and operations, he was also head of IT risk at Leeds Building Society.

Clarke was previously CTO of Sage UK and Landmark Information Group.

As AccessPay’s new CTO, he brings extensive engineering and technology leadership experience and has a strong record of delivering scalable, enterprise-ready platforms in the financial technology space.

Anish Kapoor, CEO of AccessPay, said: “Richard and Ian’s experience and strategic mindsets make them exceptional fits for their respective roles.

“As we continue to scale our platform and support complex enterprise environments, their leadership will be critical in shaping the next phase of our technology strategy.

“Together, they bring the technology and governance leadership we need to continue scaling securely and supporting the increasingly complex environments our customers operate in.”

AccessPay was launched in 2012 and is a pioneering force in the banking industry.

 

On the Beach saw record total transaction value for a fourth consecutive year in the 12 months to 30th September 2025.

TTV was up 11% to £1.25 billion (FY24: £1.1bn), while revenue increased 6% to £121.4m (FY24: £114.6m) and adjusted profit before tax increased 20% to £35m (FY24: £29.2m).

The group remains in a strong financial position, it says, with cash of £91.7m at the year end having completed a refinancing deal with Lloyds, Natwest and HSBC in September.

@businesscloud.co.uk 🔄Who were the winners and losers on the FTSE index in November?🔄 👀BusinessCloud gives the rundown on a hectic month for London markets, as the ship steadied following a record-breaking October and the Autumn Budget announcement ⬆️Ceres, Games Workshop, Fresnillo and Lloyds were all on the rise throughout the month ⬇️JD Sports, Auto Trader, Rightmove and 3i Group all struggled during the last official month of Autumn #ftse100 #ftse250 #londonstockexchange #uktech #plc ♬ original sound – BusinessCloud

Author: Chris Maguire

Forge Holiday Group, which owns Sykes Cottages and Forest Holidays, has entered into a partnership with channel manager Guesty.

At the core of the new partnership is Guesty’s channel manager, which is purpose-built for high-volume operators managing complex, multi-channel distribution.

James Shaw, chief commercial Officer at Chester-headquartered Forge Holiday Group said: “This is a big step forward for us.

“As we continue to scale Sykes Holiday Cottages, Forest Holidays and Bachcare, the ability to broaden our distribution, reach new audiences and unlock new channels is critical.

“Guesty’s tech gives us exactly that – smarter connectivity, more automation, and access to 60+ additional booking platforms with real-time accuracy across every touchpoint.”

Robin Clifford, EMEA sales director at Guesty, added: “Forge is the most forward-thinking hospitality group in the UK – consistently ahead of the curve in both technology adoption and AI innovation.

“At Guesty, we’re leading the evolution of software for the STR sector, embedding AI across our platform to drive performance, efficiency, and exceptional guest experiences.

“Forge recognises the power of combining strong distribution with operational excellence and the right technology partner.

“Their commitment to innovation and growth aligns deeply with our mission, and we’re proud to support them as they scale, strengthen their portfolio, and unlock new opportunities for both owners and guests.”

Completing a hat-trick of results from publicly-quoted investors is Foresight Group.

Revenues for the same period were £81.5m, up 11% from £73.2m in the prior year.

EBITDA before share-based payments was £30.6m, up 6% (2024: £29m).

AUM grew 4% from £13.2bn to £13.7bn.

Mercia Asset Management PLC has also reported results for the half-year period.

It said revenue was £17.2m, compared with £17.9m in the prior year. Profit before tax was £2.5m (2024:£2.4m) and net assets £187.1m (£187.4m).

EBITDA was £4.2m, up from £3.7m, an increase of 14%.

Mercia has around £2bn of assets under its management.

Molten Ventures has reported its latest half-year results.

The listed investor said total return – that is, net asset value plus the cumulative dividends paid out per share – was 160.3 pence for the six months ended 30th September 2025, compared with 160.8p in the prior year.

“We are reasonably sanguine about the Chancellor’s announcement in the Budget (as we understand it),” it said. “Whereas the Chancellor announced the reduction in VCT upfront income tax relief from 30% to 20%, that is not to have effect until April 2026. Until then 30% relief remains.”

The chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility has resigned following the error which saw Rachel Reeves’s Budget published an hour before she stood up in Parliament to deliver it.

Richard Hughes said he took “full responsibility” for the “worst failure” in the institution’s history, which was down to a technical error, and said he was resigning to allow it to “quickly move on from this regrettable incident”.

The OBR conducted an internal inquiry into the leak and found it was down to “configuration errors” which led to “a failure to ensure the protections which hide documents from public view immediately before publication were in place”.

Author: Chris Maguire

Experienced tech figure James Hardesty has started a new role as technology and AI advisor at the North East Combined Authority.

Hardesty, who is the director of ecosystem development at Sunderland Software City, will be primarily focused on shaping the region’s AI Growth Zone strategy during his four-month secondment.

He said: “My ambition here is simple. I want our region to stand as a nationally leading AI ecosystem.

“I’m bringing my experience in ecosystem building, tech sector development and communications strategy to the table to therefore act as an integrator.

“The North East isn’t at a standing start; we have much more than potential alone.

“We’ll soon get to framing, storytelling and ambition but right now you’ll find me engaging with industry, aligning data/research, and roadmapping success so that we have something both systemic and substantive to align on.

“I’m doing this to make a meaningful difference. I appreciate the proof will be in the pudding, so there are two transparent commitments I want to make.

“One, I’ll regularly share progress on how we’re moving forward. Two, this isn’t a closed shop. I’m here, I want to collaborate and I want to learn. Talk to me, I’ll even buy the lattes (pumpkin-spiced and otherwise).”

Author: Chris Maguire

Big changes in the North West’s legal sector with Krista Powell moving from Brabners after seven years to head up Napthens’ new Manchester office.

Powell, who has also worked with Fieldfisher and Gateley, said: “Napthens’ recent growth and future plans to expand considerably across the city and North West region were a major reason for me joining the firm.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for me to grow the firm’s presence in Manchester and build a team of people who will serve our clients with diligence, by delivering innovative solutions to support the growth of business and contribute to the regional economy.

“I’ve been really impressed by how Napthens has grown in recent years, clearly demonstrating how the people and collaborative relationships.”

Stephen Faulkner, managing director at Napthens, said: “Krista’s appointment marks a significant step in our Manchester journey, as we continue to develop our presence in the city and region.

“She brings an exceptional background in commercial property law and is a key part of our growth strategy building our presence in Manchester and creating a team that reflects the Napthens values.

“This appointment signals another major step forward in our commitment to providing clients with a first-class team to support their objectives and boosting the firm’s capability and presence in one of the UK’s most vibrant cities.”