Written 2 Nov 2026, 11:54
Dillistone Group sells software to recruitment firms through its Ikiru People business, and listed on AIM in June 2006. For three years it cut costs and edged back to profit while a weak UK hiring market shrank its revenue. In 2026 it raised £1.5m, started turning itself into a buyer of other businesses, and retired its biggest legacy product. First-half 2026 revenue fell 15% and the company made an adjusted operating loss.
Software for recruiters, paid by subscription
Ikiru People makes and supports software for two groups. Contingency recruiters, mostly UK agencies placing temporary, permanent and contract staff, use Infinity, a system for managing clients, candidates and jobs. They also use Mid-Office, which handles pay and billing and includes online timesheets, and ISV.Online, a skills-testing product. Executive search firms and in-house search teams around the world use FileFinder and Talentis. GatedTalent is the consumer-facing side of Talentis.
About 90% of revenue recurs, mostly as subscriptions charged per user. Revenue therefore follows how many people clients employ. When agencies shed staff or close, licence numbers drop. The company said over 1,000 organisations used its products. 30 Sep 2026 25 Apr 2024 17 Sep 2024
A shrinking market, a leaner company
UK recruitment went into a long downturn. The company cited more than 40 months of decline by 2026, and in 2024 it noted a near doubling of recruiter insolvencies. Revenue fell from £5.6m in 2023 to £4.9m in 2024 and £4.2m in 2025.
Costs fell faster, and margins improved. Adjusted EBITDA margin (profit before depreciation and one-offs) rose from 23.5% to 28.3% over those years. FY2023 brought the first adjusted operating profit since 2018, and FY2024 the first pre-tax profit since 2016, a slim £0.013m. The company repaid £0.3m a year of its Covid-era government-backed loan and raised small sums, £360,000 in August 2024 through convertible loan notes and shares. Fixed costs and debt left little room, and 2025 ended in a pre-tax loss of £0.343m after a £0.257m software write-down. 25 Apr 2024 17 Sep 2024 23 Aug 2024 8 Apr 2025 7 May 2026
Talentis was meant to be the way back
Executive search was the weak spot. FileFinder, the main product there, had lost market share. Talentis was built to replace it. Management repositioned Talentis in late 2024 as a full successor platform, and more customers signed contracts of a year or longer. Talentis's annualised recurring revenue rose 67% in the second half of 2025.
In September 2025 management raised expectations for 2026. 30 Sep 2025 7 May 2026
“I am also pleased to report that we now expect 2026 to be our first year of revenue growth since 2022 and only our second since 2016.” 30 Sep 2025
New money, new strategy, FileFinder retired
In February 2026 the company raised £1.5m at 10p a share, a 17.6% premium to the prior close. The new investor was P&R Real Value, which put two nominees on the board. P&R's notified holding was 16.94% and a director linked to it, Aakash Vanchi Nath, was recorded at 26.8%. Simon Warburton and Steve Hammond left the group board. The company said it would grow by acquisition. The shares rose from 8.5p in January to 14.5p in February.
Alongside this, the company decided to withdraw FileFinder in January 2027 and move clients to Talentis. FileFinder brought significant revenue but a heavy cost base. Revenue fell 15% in the first half of 2026, and 61% of the drop came from FileFinder. Another 17% came from VDQ, a product withdrawn in 2025. 4 Feb 2026 23 Feb 2026 2 Mar 2026 9 Mar 2026 7 May 2026 30 Sep 2026
What explains the record
The core problem was the customer base. Recruiters were cutting staff, and each cut removed subscription revenue. Management's response was to cut costs and add products, which lifted margins but could not stop revenue falling.
The forecasts also proved fragile. Management said in September 2025 that 2026 would bring revenue growth, and in May 2026 that Ikiru would grow organically and turn cash generative from the second half. By September 2026 half-year revenue was down 15% and operating cash flow was negative. The company has not restated the full-year growth forecast. It now says all Ikiru products will be cash generative once the FileFinder migration finishes, in January 2027. 30 Sep 2025 7 May 2026 30 Sep 2026
A new chief executive for a different company
Giles Fearnley is non-executive chairman. Jason Starr stood down as CEO on 28 September 2026 but stays on the board. Gareth Hawkins took over to build the acquisition strategy. Finance director Ian Mackin left on 15 October, and Samantha Skeaping joins as interim CFO on 2 November. Paul Mather, previously chief operating officer, now runs Ikiru People. The company has not said why Starr and Mackin left.
Shareholders approved the new strategy on 26 October with over 99% of votes. The company will buy established, profitable, cash-generative businesses, mostly in the UK and possibly some in Europe. It will buy all or majority stakes and leave management largely autonomous. It will also look outside software, but says it will not become an AIM 'investing company'. The same meeting approved converting £794,750 of loans into 5,676,780 shares at 14p. The loan holders include current and former directors and a director's relative. Interest falls by about £73,000 a year. 25 Sep 2026 30 Sep 2026 1 Oct 2026 7 Oct 2026 26 Oct 2026
Cash in hand, profits down
In the six months to June 2026, revenue was £1.854m and adjusted EBITDA £0.215m, a margin of 11.6% against 26.8% a year earlier. The adjusted operating loss was £0.272m, against a £0.079m profit. Operating activities used £0.109m of cash.
The February raise lifted cash to £0.436m, the government-backed loan and overdraft were repaid, and net assets stood at £4.009m. Once the conversion is complete, the loan notes are cleared. The shares closed at 14.5p in September, and the latest close, in October 2026, was 17.8p. 30 Sep 2026 26 Oct 2026
Cost cuts first, deals later
Management expects a stronger second half. The Infinity order book and Talentis migrations have created a larger delivery pipeline, and non-recurring revenue should be appreciably up. The FileFinder migration should finish in January 2027, with 75% of contracted migrating clients on multi-year terms. Annualised savings of six figures are due from the new year, with one-off costs in the second half of 2026 and into 2027.
On 30 September 2026 the company set an initial aim of a minimum 25% operating margin at Ikiru People, with a much stronger base by the second half of 2027. It says that cash flow should then help fund acquisitions. The company has named no target, price or timetable for a first deal. Open questions are how many FileFinder clients actually move across, whether the cost cuts arrive on time, and whether a new team can find and fund acquisitions. 30 Sep 2026 7 Oct 2026 26 Oct 2026
Written by AI from Dillistone Group's own announcements since Oct 2023 · every paragraph links to its sources