Corporate activity dominated the small-cap news flow, headlined by a significant legal-sector consolidation deal alongside a clutch of results updates spanning professional services, energy engineering and resources. Elsewhere, portfolio companies under Tekcapital pushed forward with commercial partnerships and product launches, while smaller resources and fintech names updated on financing and project milestones.
Knights Group buys Moore Barlow's commercial and wealth arms for £27m
Knights Group Holdings (AIM:KGH) has agreed to acquire the commercial and private wealth service lines of Moore Barlow for total cash consideration of £27m, extending the AIM-listed legal group's push into the Thames Valley, Essex, Kent and Sussex. Knights ranks among the UK's top 50 law firms by revenue, and the deal builds directly on its recent regional expansion strategy. Moore Barlow's Personal Injury, Clinical Negligence and Court of Protection divisions will be carved out and sold separately immediately before completion, leaving Knights with the commercial and wealth lines that represent around 70% of Moore Barlow's business.
The acquired operations generated approximately £30m of turnover in the year to 30 April, with a 4% EBITDA margin on a corporatised basis, a figure Knights expects to lift substantially, targeting an 18% profit-before-tax margin once synergies are realised. Of the £27m consideration, £18m is payable on completion, with the remainder staggered across three annual instalments subject to conditions, funded from Knights' existing banking facilities. Covenant net debt to EBITDA is expected to sit around 1.5 times by the end of the current financial year. The deal brings around 160 fee earners into the Knights network from Moore Barlow's six sites, including Richmond, Guildford, Woking, Southampton and Lymington, with Knights planning to combine the Woking and Guildford offices and exit the City office entirely.
"Moore Barlow is a strong cultural and operational fit with Knights," said David Beech, chief executive of Moore Barlow.
The transaction, expected to complete on 1 November, is Knights' clearest signal yet that it intends to consolidate the fragmented regional legal market through disciplined, earnings-enhancing bolt-ons rather than scale for its own sake. Structuring the deal with deferred consideration tied to conditions limits Knights' upfront cash exposure while aligning incentives around the integration succeeding, and the targeted margin expansion from 4% to 18% signals confidence that Knights' operating model, rather than Moore Barlow's underlying client base, is the real value driver. If replicated, the approach gives Knights a repeatable playbook for absorbing under-optimised regional practices.
PPHE completes $33.5m sale of New York site
PPHE Hotel Group (LSE:PPH) has completed the sale of its Manhattan development site to a US real estate developer for $33.5m, closing out a process first announced on 18 February. The freehold site sat outside PPHE's core operating footprint, and the group had no plans to develop it directly.
Proceeds are being used to repay $6.75m of associated debt, with the remaining balance to be deployed under PPHE's capital allocation strategy. The disposal removes PPHE's sole major US holding from a portfolio otherwise concentrated in prime freehold and long leasehold European assets, valued at £2.2bn as at December 2025 by Savills and Zagreb nekretnine.
The sale simplifies PPHE's asset base around its European hospitality core and frees capital that can be redirected toward existing operations or debt reduction, reinforcing a more geographically focused investment case going forward.
Adsure Services lifts profit 23% despite flat revenue
Adsure Services (LSE:ADS), the AQSE-listed holding company for TIAA, a specialist business assurance provider to the housing, healthcare, government and education sectors, reported net profit up 23% to £0.75m for the year ended 31 March, against £0.6m the prior year. Revenue held broadly flat at £10m, down 0.5% year-on-year, while profit before tax rose 22.7% to £1m and operating profit increased 18.4% to £1.07m.
EBITDA climbed 13% to £1.34m, with margin expanding to 13.4% from 11.8%, a gain the company attributed to realigning its skills mix and cutting direct staff costs while maintaining client retention. Cash balances held steady at £1m against £1.1m a year earlier, and the group remains debt-free. The board proposed a final dividend of 0.95p per share, down from 1.14p, as it looks to retain capacity to fund its growth strategy. "With these strong foundations in place, we are now setting out an ambitious new chapter for the Group," said Kevin Limn, chief executive of Adsure Services.
The margin expansion on flat revenue points to a business prioritising operational discipline over top-line growth for now, with the trimmed dividend signalling management intends to reinvest rather than distribute as it pursues the next phase of expansion.
Hunting cuts earnings guidance on Kuwait tender delay
Hunting (LSE:HTG), the precision engineering group, reported first-half revenue down 6% to $497m and EBITDA down 12% to $62.1m, as the absence of prior-year Kuwait Oil Company orders and softer Advanced Manufacturing activity offset growth elsewhere in the business.
KOC has now indicated it will re-run the OCTG tender originally issued in April, with an accelerated process expected in the third quarter and results due within a month of reissue, pushing any new contract recognition into 2027. The delay is expected to cut around $10m from 2026 EBITDA, taking full-year guidance to $138-141m, slightly below the previous range, and could shave up to $10m off current 2027 consensus of $165m. "The strong margins delivered from our Subsea product group... are strengthening the quality of our earnings into the long-term, a key deliverable of our 2030 strategic ambition," said chief executive Jim Johnson, who is retiring and being replaced through an ongoing search.
The tender slippage is a timing issue rather than a lost contract, but it lands awkwardly alongside a leadership transition, adding uncertainty to near-term earnings visibility just as Hunting works to reassure the market that its diversification into Subsea is offsetting legacy OCTG cyclicality.
Amigo Resources signs Tanzania graphite MOU with STAMICO
Amigo Resources (AMGO) has agreed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Tanzania's state mining corporation, STAMICO, to jointly assess a graphite tailings recovery project.
The agreement grants Amigo exclusivity while the two parties negotiate a definitive agreement, giving the company a formal route to evaluate the reprocessing opportunity before committing further capital.
Tekcapital's Guident signs three-year robotics deal with Coastal Waste
Guident, a Tekcapital portfolio company, has expanded its partnership with Coastal Waste & Recycling into a 36-month agreement covering autonomous inspection robots and AI monitoring software.
The extended contract deepens an existing commercial relationship and gives Guident a multi-year revenue commitment as it scales deployment of its autonomous inspection and monitoring technology within the waste and recycling sector.
Innovative Eyewear adds AI newscasts to Lucyd smart glasses
Innovative Eyewear, a NASDAQ-listed Tekcapital portfolio company, has rolled out a generative AI news feature alongside Google Gemini integration for its Lucyd smart eyewear app.
The update adds voice-delivered AI newscasts and conversational assistant capability to the Lucyd platform, positioning the smart glasses range more directly against broader wearable-AI competition as the category matures.
Genedrive appoints two independent non-executive directors
genedrive (GDR) has appointed Mark Winkler and Mike Fairbourn as independent non-executive directors, with both joining the board on 1 September.
The appointments are intended to support the company as it works to scale its pharmacogenetic testing business across the UK and internationally, adding board-level experience as the commercial push widens.
Corero adds AI cloud analysis to DDoS defence platform
Corero Network Security (LSE:CNS) has launched AI Cloud-Assist for its SmartWall ONE platform, pairing cloud-based threat intelligence with its existing on-premises mitigation technology.
The launch responds to increasingly AI-driven attack campaigns, giving Corero's customers an additional layer of analysis designed to identify and counter more sophisticated distributed denial-of-service threats.
Metals Exploration secures $27m loan as La India build hits key milestones
Metals Exploration (MTL) has drawn down more than $20m of a new $27m equipment facility to support construction at its La India gold project in Nicaragua.
The company confirmed first gold production at the site remains on track for December, with the new facility providing the equipment funding needed to keep the build on schedule through to commissioning.
eEnergy secures new loan as Mace payments slip
eEnergy Group (EAAS) has extended its Harwood Holdco loan facility and secured £0.5m in fresh funding from a former director, following delays in receiving £3.2m owed to the company on a completed Mace contract.
The bridging finance gives eEnergy headroom while it pursues payment of the outstanding sum, underlining the working-capital strain that late payments on completed contracts can place on smaller energy services providers.
