Company Announcements

 

07 May 2026

 

Dillistone Group Plc
("Dillistone", the "Company" or the "Group")
Final Results

& Investor Presentation

 

Dillistone Group Plc (AIM:DSG), a long-standing supplier of software and services to recruiters, currently in the process of transitioning to a serial acquirer, is pleased to announce its audited final results for the 12 months ended 31 December 2025 ("FY2025").

 

Highlights

 

·    Adjusted operating profit of £0.166m (2024: £0.269m).

·    Loss before tax of (£0.343m) (2024: profit £0.013m) driven by exceptional items of £0.300m, of which £0.257m is related to the write down of a software asset.

·    Net cash from operating activities up 10% at £1.082m (2024: £0.959m).

·    CBIL debt reduced by £0.300m in the year, last payment due June 2026.

·    EBITDA margin increased to 28.3% (2024: 26.2%) with EBITDA decreasing by 7% to £1.190m (2024: £1.286m).

·    Recurring revenues represented 89% (2024: 90%) of Group revenue. This equates to 122% of administration + cost of sales expenses (excluding depreciation / amortisation / exceptional costs) (2024: 121%).

·    Revenue decreased by 14% to £4.202m (2024: £4.903m) reflecting a still challenging market.

·    Post year end fundraise of £1.500m secures the Group's finances for the future and supports change in strategy.

 

 

Commenting on the results and prospects, Giles Fearnley, Non-Executive Chairman, said:

 

2025 was another challenging year for the Group, serving a recruitment market that remains troubled, but I'm pleased report significant to and positive developments, both in the year under review and through the early months of 2026.

 

I am delighted by the faith shown in the Group by our new investors. The investment has stabilised the balance sheet and will enable the Group to explore new strategic avenues for growth in the future.

 

2026 will be a year of change for the Group as we transition from being solely focused on recruitment software to adopting a dynamic strategy, seeking opportunities for acquisition led growth.

 

Right now, however, the Group remains focused in the recruitment software sector, and within this niche, we have made a solid start to the year with the first quarter delivering our best order book for three years.

 

 

 

 

 

Investor Presentation: 14:30 BST on Thursday, 7 May 2026

 

Dillistone is pleased to announce that Jason Starr and Ian Mackin will provide a live presentation relating to the Final Results via the Investor Meet Company platform on 7 May 2026, 14:30 BST.

 

 

Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and can join the Dillistone presentation via the following link:

 

https://www.investormeetcompany.com/dillistone-group-plc/register-investor

 

Investors who already follow Dillistone on the Investor Meet Company platform will automatically be invited.

 

Enquiries:

 

Dillistone Group Plc
Giles Fearnley		Chairman		01256 297 000
Jason Starr		Chief Executive Officer
Ian Mackin		Finance Director
Zeus (Nominated adviser and Broker)
Mike Coe		Director, Investment Banking		020 3829 5000

 

Notes to Editors:

 

Dillistone Group Plc is a leader in the supply and support of software and services to the recruitment industry. Dillistone operates through the Ikiru People (www.IkiruPeople.com) brand.

 

The Group develops, markets and supports the Talentis, FileFinder, Infinity, Mid-Office, ISV and GatedTalent products.

 

Dillistone was admitted to AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange plc, in June 2006. 

 

Learn about our products:

Talentis Software:                               https://www.talentis.global/recruitment-software/

Voyager Software:                              https://www.voyagersoftware.com

Online Timesheets:                             https://www.voyagersoftware.com/online-timesheets/

 

 

 

Chairman's statement

 

2025 was another challenging year for the Group, serving a recruitment market that remains troubled, but I'm pleased to report significant and positive developments, both in the year under review and through the early months of 2026.

 

I have to start my statement with a reference to the post year end fundraise of £1.500m. I am delighted by the faith shown in the Group by our new investors. The investment has stabilised the balance sheet and will enable the Group to explore new strategic avenues for growth in the future.

 

I warmly welcome Matthias Riechert and Aakash Vanchi Nath to the Board, and once again thank Simon Warburton and Steve Hammond for the valuable contributions they made to the Group Board before stepping down in February. I am delighted that Simon and Steve remain on the board of our Ikiru People subsidiary.

 

Focusing on the Group's performance in 2025, in a still depressed market, the Group has delivered broadly on our consistent messaging through the year. Revenue was down, operational EBITDA and cash margins crept upwards, we continued to pay down the CBIL loan and Talentis became a viable CRM platform with users around the World.

 

For the purposes of obtaining true comparatives between financial years, we focus on measures which are adjusted to remove items of Government support, acquisition related and exceptional items, to better understand the underlying business.

 

The expected drop in revenues meant that while EBITDA fell (£1.190m v £1.286m), adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 28.3% (FY2024: 26.2%) demonstrating the potential the current core operating company has when the revenue line returns to growth.

 

Net cash from operating activities increased to £1.082m (FY2024: £0.959m) on the reduced revenue base. However, when adjusted for the £0.120m loan notes issued in the year, the net change in cash and cash equivalents improved 36% to (£0.256m) (FY2024: (£0.397m)).

 

During the year the Group paid down £300k of debt, whilst raising £0.120m through the issue of a new loan note. I am glad to note that the CBIL loan of £1.500m taken out in 2020 in the midst of the Covid crisis, will be fully repaid by the time of this year's AGM.

 

Dividends

The Group is not recommending a final dividend in respect of the year to 31 December 2025 (2024: nil).

Staff

We owe our progress to our remarkable team. We are incredibly fortunate to possess a workforce of such dedication and skill. I want to personally thank everyone for their hard work, commitment, and determination in delivering first-class products and services to the industries we serve. They are the foundation of the Group and looking towards the exciting future, a strong base to build on.

 

Outlook

2026 will be a year of change for the Group as we transition from being solely focused on recruitment software to adopting a dynamic strategy, seeking opportunities for acquisition led growth.

 

Right now, however, the Group remains focused in the recruitment software sector, and within this niche, we have made a solid start to the year with the first quarter delivering our best order book for three years.

 

The Board looks forward to providing shareholders with updates as the year unfolds.

Giles Fearnley

Non-Executive Chairman

 

 

CEO's Review

I am delighted to present what is likely to be my final statement as Chief Executive Officer of Dillistone Group Plc.

In the 12 months since I last wrote to you, the Group has undergone a huge amount of change. In a challenging market, our Ikiru People business has shown resilience and, as I will explain below, appears to have turned a corner.

Earlier this year, the Group secured a substantial new investment and announced plans to embark on a new buy-and-build strategy, focused on acquiring and developing high-quality, cash-generative businesses. We believe that this strategy will deliver long-term, compounding value for shareholders.

A new strategy requires new leadership, and I'd like to join our Chair in welcoming Matthias and Aakash to the Board while thanking Simon and Steve who have stepped off the Group Board but, I'm delighted to say, remain in our Group. We continue to build our leadership team to deliver our new strategy and the search for a new Chief Executive is underway.

Review of 2025

While great change is ahead of us, today and throughout the year in review, Dillistone Group traded exclusively in the recruitment technology sector, via our subsidiary Ikiru People.

Our product portfolio is divided into two key segments.

·      Solutions for contingency recruiters, primarily serving agencies in the United Kingdom but also used internationally.

·      Solutions for executive search firms and in-house executive search teams, with clients ranging from sole traders to boutique firms right up to globally recognised executive search brands, these products are used across the globe.

The recruitment market has faced challenges for a number of years now, impacting our clients and impacting us. Data from sources including KPMG suggest that the recruitment industry in the UK has gone through a downturn lasting at least 38 months, with job vacancies 21% below pre-pandemic levels. Many recruiting firms - including among our client base - reduced staff and many closed entirely. As a result, our focus has been on controlling our cost base and improving our margins with a view to achieving better results during these challenging times. Gross margin has grown over the last few years, and while it dipped slightly in 2025, we expect to see further improvement in 2026 and 2027.

On the contingency side of the business, we've focussed our efforts on adding ancillary products that allow us to take a larger percentage of our clients' technology expenditure, whilst also "locking in" our clients further. Revenue per user on the contingency side grew by 2.7% in the year.

We are pleased to report that our ability to win new business is improving. New business orders in FY25 were up 12% over the previous year, with progress made on both sides of the firm.

Looking now at the executive search side of our business - In our pre-close statement, we reported that Talentis had performed well in the 2^nd half of 2025, with exit ARR up 67% in the period. The increase in migration numbers also saw a steep increase in professional services fees.

This H2 growth in revenue has been driven by a variety of factors; the platform started to attract larger clients, with the average number of users per new client in H2 trebling when compared to the average at the end of H1. This led to the number of users on the platform rising 50%. Probably most importantly for the longer term, however, we saw a significant change in the nature of our clients - in the period January 2024 - May 2025, 82% of our new users signed on a month to month basis; in the period from June 2025 - December 2025, 86% of new users signed contracts for 12 months or longer.

The steps taken in 2025, we believe, will help us deliver a return to growth for the Group in 2026.

 

Historical KPIs and financial performance

 

As expected, Group's operational performance regressed slightly from FY2024. The success measure for each of the KPIs used by management is for year-on-year improvement.

 

	FY25 £'000	FY24 £'000	% Move
Total revenue	4,202	4,903	(14%)
Recurring revenue	3,750	4,394	(15%)
Adjusted EBITDA *	1,190	1,286	(7%)
Cash from operating activities	1,082	959	13%
Adjusted profit before tax **	11	117	(91%)

 

 

*     EBITDA adjusted for exceptional items

**   Adjusted profit before tax is statutory profit before acquisition related intangible amortisation, reorganisation and other costs.

 

 

 

 

Strategy

 

While we expect our Ikiru People business to deliver organic growth in 2026, at Group level we will be adopting a disciplined, M&A-driven model focused on capital allocation as the primary driver of long-term shareholder value.

 

The focus will be on acquiring businesses that can operate with a high degree of autonomy post-acquisition. This decentralised model enables management teams to continue driving performance within their respective businesses, while benefiting from the Group's financial resources, governance framework, and strategic oversight. Integration risk is therefore minimised, and the focus remains on preserving and enhancing the intrinsic value of each acquired business. This will also be the Group's approach to our existing Ikiru People business which, we believe, will be cash generative from H2 2026 onwards.

 

Central to this strategy is a disciplined approach to capital allocation. The Group intends to reinvest the cash flows generated by both its existing operations and acquired businesses into further acquisitions, creating a compounding effect over time. By prioritising businesses with strong cash conversion and resilient earnings profiles, the Group aims to build a portfolio capable of sustaining this reinvestment cycle across market conditions.

 

The Board believes that this model offers the potential to deliver attractive, long-term returns to shareholders.

 

 

Future KPIs and Financial Performance

 

A new strategy requires new performance metrics. While these will evolve over time, the Board expects key indicators of performance to include the following. We've provided historical results to provide context.

 

	FY25	FY24	FY23	FY22
cEBITDA ratio*	7.8%	8.3%	6.3%	(1.0%)
Recurring revenue growth %	(14.3%)	(12.4%)	(1.8%)	1.8%
Business Quality Ratio (BQR)**	(6.5%)	(4.1%)	4.5%	0.8%

 

*               Segment EBITDA (Note 3) less capitalised software development before exceptionals divided by total revenue

**            cEBITDA ratio + recurring revenue growth %

 

 

Thank you

 

As I look to concluding my tenure as Group CEO over the coming months, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my colleagues across the Group for their commitment, professionalism, and support. The last few years have been challenging, and the entire team should be proud of the resilience they have shown.

 

I would also like to thank our shareholders for their continued backing of the Group. Our time as a public company has had both highs and lows, but I appreciate the support I have received throughout my tenure. I'm excited by the opportunity that I will be passing to my successor.

 

I look forward to continuing to support the business in my ongoing role and to seeing the strategy translate into shareholder value in the periods ahead.

 

 

Financial Review

 

Summary

 

The Group maintained adjusted operating profitability for the third consecutive year. Highlights included:

 

·    Post year end fundraise of £1.500m safeguards the Group's financial future

·    CBIL loan due to be repaid June 2026, releases £0.300m pa to free cashflow

·    Cash burn excluding fundraising improved 36% to (£0.256m) from (£0.397m) in FY2024

·    Adjusted EBITDA margin increased slightly to 28.3% from 26.2% in FY2024

 

Revenue

 

Group revenue decreased by 14% to £4.202m from £4.903m in FY2024.

 

 

Revenue by type	FY 2025	FY 2024	% Change
	£'000	£'000
Recurring revenue	3,750	4,394	(14.7%)
Non-recurring revenue	320	395	(19.0%)
Third party revenue	132	114	15.8%
Total revenue	4,202	4,903	(14.3%)
Recurring revenue %	89%	90%	(0.4%)

 

Gross profit margin

 

The gross margin reduced marginally to 89.5% from 89.7% in FY2024. As the business executes its new growth strategy via mergers and acquisitions, the Board will review and replace the key KPIs with which it evaluates performance. For the current Ikiru People operating unit itself, however, the objective is to maintain similar levels of gross margin.

 

Adjusted EBITDA*

 

The adjusted EBITDA* decreased by 7% to £1.190m from £1.286m in FY2024 with the EBITDA margin slightly higher at 28.3%, compared to 26.2% in FY2024. This marks the fourth consecutive year of margin increase, with the margin more than double the 13.2% adjusted EBITDA margin level achieved in FY2021.

 

 

 

 

 

* Refers to segment EBITDA in note 3

Operating profit/(loss) and profit/(loss) before tax

 

The operating position, before acquisition related, reorganisation and other items (Adjusted operating profit) in a difficult market decreased 38% to stand at £0.166m from £0.269m in FY2024.

 

Inclusive of acquisition related, reorganisation and other items, the Group made an operating loss of (£0.188m) compared to an operating profit of £0.165m in FY2024.

 

The loss before tax moved to (£0.343m) from a profit of £0.013m in FY2024, a loss driven in large part by exceptional items of £0.300m. This led to a loss after tax of (£0.298m) (FY2024: £0.040m), with the EPS moving to (1.46p) from 0.2p

 

 

Taxation

 

The net tax credit for the year was £0.045m (FY2024: £0.027m).

 

 

Balance sheet

 

The Group's net assets decreased to £3.014m (FY2024: £3.315m).

 

Trade and other receivables decreased to £0.337m (FY2024: £0.430m). Trade and other payables also decreased to £1.568m (FY2024: £1.712m).

 

 

R&D development

 

The Group capitalised £0.858m in development costs in the year (FY2024: £0.881m) as the business continued its commitment to developing its products. Amortisation of development costs was £0.989m (FY2024: £0.968m).

 

 

Financing

 

The Group continues to pay down its bank debt. Repayment of the Government CBIL loan received in June 2020 will end this summer. This loan of £1.5m was repayable over six years, with monthly repayments having commenced in July 2021.

 

As a result, bank loan borrowings at 31 December 2025 were £0.150m (FY2024: £0.450m).

 

During the year, the Group raised £0.120m in the form of loan notes to a related party. This lifts the level of loan notes outstanding to £0.820m (FY2024: £0.700m).

 

In addition, post year end the Group issued new shares to the value of £1.500m (FY2024: £0.060m) in a round of fundraising at a premium to the share price at issue. As part of the transaction, the earliest redemption date on £0.374m of loan notes was deferred for two years to June 2028. This issue fundamentally improves the strength of the balance sheet.

 

 

 

Cashflow

 

Net cash from normalised operating activities increased 13% to £1.082m (FY2024: £0.959m).

 

Net change in cash decreased to (£0.136m) (FY2024: (£0.37m)). Removing fundraising, the operational comparison is more fairly reflected with a figure of (£0.256m) (FY2024 (£0.397m)).

 

The Group finished the year with a utilisation of the bank facility (£0.211m) (2024:  utilisation of the bank facility (£0.074m)).

 

Summarised cashflow	FY 2025	FY 2024
	£'000	£'000
Adjusted net cash from normalised operating activities	1,082	959
Investing activities - net	(863)	(888)
Financial activities - net (excl fundraising)	(475)	(468)
Adjusted net change in cash and cash equivalents	(256)	(397)
Fundraising	120	360
Net change in cash and cash equivalents	(136)	(37)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year	(74)	(19)
Effect of foreign exchange rate changes	(1)	(18)
Cash and cash equivalents at 31st December	(211)	(74)

 

 

 

 

 

Jason Starr

Chief Executive Officer