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Author: Jonathan Symcox

DCC plc has completed the divestment of its UK and Ireland tech business for 拢100 million.

The Irish sales, marketing and support services conglomerate, founded in 1976 as a venture capital firm and listed in London, is undergoing a restructure announced last year to simplify its business.

Looking to focus on its energy business, earlier this year it sold its healthcare division for 拢1 billion – and it has now divested its Info Tech business in the UK&I to German-based private equity group Aurelius.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

This week’s best-read stories include the Dragon aiming to create a Disney-style empire; the wheelchair user who won full backing in the Den last night; and the FinTech entrepreneur heading a fan bid for crisis club Sheffield Wednesday.

As a Barnsley fan (who grew up in Sheffield, counts many friends among its fanbase and is used to jibes about ‘Dingles’ and ‘you’re just a small town in Sheffield’) I can only hope that Wednesday find a responsible owner who will put the fans and club’s staff first.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The CEO of Daisy Communications has left following the Lancashire firm鈥檚 merger with Virgin Media O2, which created a 拢1.4 billion revenue company.

Dave McGinn joined the Nelson-based firm in 2009 as MD of Daisy Distribution and was named CEO of Daisy Communications in April 2016.

Daisy founder Matthew Riley – who chairs O2 Daisy was included in 老九品茶Cloud鈥檚 2025 Northern Leaders list – paid tribute to 鈥榗rafty Cockney鈥� McGinn.

 

 

Author: Charlie Parry, chief development officer, UrbanChain

The recent announcement of a 拢150 billion UK鈥揢S 鈥楾ech Prosperity Deal鈥� marks a bold step in transatlantic cooperation on AI, digital infrastructure and high-growth industries. But the deal risks overlooking one fundamental fact: technology doesn鈥檛 prosper without power.

The UK’s data centres currently consume approximately 2.5% of the national electricity supply, a figure comparable to the power needs of the entire city of Birmingham.听

Projections from parliamentary analysis indicate a potential quadrupling of this electricity usage to over 22 terawatt-hours annually by 2030. Concurrently, the International Energy Agency has issued a warning that AI-driven workloads could account for more than 20% of the additional electricity demand in developed economies by the close of this decade.

Data centres are the backbone of digital growth 鈥� but without clean, affordable, and resilient energy, they risk becoming the Achilles鈥� heel of national competitiveness.

Risers:

Anglo-Eastern Plantations – +6.46%

IP Group – +2.83%

Smith & Nephew – +2.12%

Avon Technologies – +2.11%

Alfa Financial Software – +2.01%

Fallers:

Ceres Power – -4.55%

WPP – -3.77%

Burberry – -3.48%

Auto Trader – -3.41%

Drax Group – -2.81%

Research conducted by global advisory firm Vistra has suggested that over half of global firms with a UK presence are unprepared for Companies House鈥檚 new identity verification rules.

The mandatory period begins on 18th November.

The survey of 100 global company directors found that 52% aren鈥檛 compliant with identity verification requirements under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA), while nearly 1 in 3 remain unaware of the legislation altogether.

The findings highlight a significant compliance gap ahead of the UK鈥檚 biggest corporate transparency reform in 180 years.

West Yorkshire鈥檚 reputation as one of the world鈥檚 most dynamic regions for health technology innovation will take centre stage this November as a first-of-its-kind conference brings together leading voices from the NHS, government, academia, and industry to shape the future of healthcare.听

The event, 鈥楧riving the Future of Innovation 鈥� West Yorkshire鈥檚 HealthTech Cluster鈥�, will be held on Thursday 6th November at Leeds United鈥檚 Elland Road stadium.

It will be delivered in partnership with the West Yorkshire HealthTech Cluster, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Innovate UK鈥檚 West Yorkshire Health Technologies Launchpad (hosted by Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber), and the West Yorkshire ICB鈥檚 HIVE Network.听

听Solid State plc, a component supplier and manufacturer of computing, power and communications products, says its subsidiary Steatite Ltd has secured an initial order valued at $10.8 million under Project CAIN, a major defence programme, for a UK Government end user.

It says the order represents a significant milestone in Steatite’s ongoing strategy to deliver cutting-edge, mission-critical technologies to the UK’s armed forces and security community.

Under Project CAIN, Steatite will supply a range of secure, ruggedised systems including the MPU5 and Wave Relay Radio Technology from Persistent Systems, supporting advanced operational capabilities in challenging environments.

Delivery of these initial systems is scheduled for the first half of 2026. The project further strengthens Steatite’s position as a trusted supplier to the UK Ministry of Defence and reinforces its reputation for innovation and reliability in the delivery of secure technology solutions.

MHA, a professional services provider of audit and assurance, tax, accountancy and advisory services, has reported growth in half-year revenues.

The group said it is on track to deliver full-year performance in line with market expectations after estimating revenue for the six months ended 30th September 2025 at approximately 拢121.3 million, up 13% on H1 25 (拢107.2 million).

Of this revenue growth, 3% relates to the acquisition of Baker Tilly South-East Europe Holdings in August 2025, and 1.5% is attributable to the full period income from Baker Tilly Ireland, acquired in July 2024.

MHA completed a successful AIM IPO shortly after the period began in April 2025, raising gross proceeds of 拢97.8m to be used, amongst other things, to invest in technology, including AI, and support further bolt-on acquisitions to accelerate growth.

In August 2025 it completed the acquisition of BTSEE, a professional services firm offering a comprehensive range of services to clients in Cyprus, Greece and South-East Europe.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

A shareholder in听TT Electronics Plc says it will reject the 拢287 million takeover offer from听Swiss electronics firm Cicor Technologies Ltd.

DBAY, which owns a 16.5% stake in TT, said it is “not supportive of the acquisition”.

TT responded by revealing that it had rejected three “highly conditional” offers from DBAY for the company in the last three months, adding: “Against this background, the board of TT believes that DBAY may in some respects have a different agenda to other TT shareholders.”

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Retail group Princes Group has floated on the London Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of 拢1.16 billion.

The 拢2.1bn revenue food and drinks firm includes the brands Princes, Napolina, Branston, Batchelors, Flora, Crisp ‘N Dry, Delverde, Naked Noodle and Vier Diamanten.

The Liverpool-headquartered group exports its products to more than 60 countries and has more than 8,000 customers globally across large food retailers, B2B partners and the foodservice industry.

The offer price of its float has been set at 475 pence per share, equating to a market capitalisation of approximately 拢1.162bn. It includes a retail offer which it expects to raise 拢14m.

Princes said the float would raise primary capital of approximately 拢400m to support further inorganic growth via acquisitions.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The CFO of Raspberry Pi is to step down.

The Cambridge firm – behind low-cost miniature computers used extensively in education – floated in London in June 2024 at a valuation of 拢542 million.

Now Richard Boult has informed the board听that in the second half听of听2026, after seven years at the firm, he will leave the company to “explore new challenges and enable the company to put in place a team for its next period of growth”.

Raspberry Pi, led by CEO Eben Upton, has begun a search for his successor.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Moonpig has appointed its new CEO.

Catherine Faiers will replace Nickyl Raithatha, who in June announced that he would be stepping down after seven years in the business.

Faiers is currently the COO at Auto Trader Group plc. Prior to this she was COO at Addison Lee, corporate development director at Trainline and a director at Close Brothers Corporate Finance.

Raithatha’s leaving date – and Faiers’s start date – will be announced in due course.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

The Dragons鈥� Den line-up for 2026 has been revealed – with three new guest Dragons joining Gary Neville.

Tinie Tempah, Jenna Meek and Susie Ma will enter the Den for the first time alongside heavyweights Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman and Steven Bartlett.

Sara Davies, as previously reported, will not return in 2026.

So who are the fresh faces?

Author: Patrick Killeen

Must give credit to my editor, Jonathan Symcox, who has taackled the live blog for the last few weeks. The whole watching and typing isn’t as easy as he makes it look!

He’s still not by any means the star of the show – with accessibility innovator Simon Sansome winning backing from all five Dragons in tonights finale.

You can read more about his pitch and reaction here.

A happy ending to series 22 of Dragons’ Den.

Thanks for following along.

Snowball wins investment from all five Dragons.

He wins 拢80,000 in investment and the backing of five of the best.

All take 5%.

Sansome gets slightly emotional when talking about how much his late mother promoted his app.

He says he knows that ‘she would have loved’ seeing him succeed in the Den, as he is doing to a huge extent here.

He mirrors Jones’ offer – 拢80,000 for 25%.

Suleyman is in the exact same boat.

All are open to sharing.

Jones says if he can persuade Google, he could find himself with access to every location on Maps and several million paying customers a year.

He also thinks he could help – making an offer of 拢80,000 for 25% – all of the money for 10% more than the initial offering.

He is also open to sharing.