Touchstar is a small AIM-listed company that supplies rugged mobile computers, software and managed services to fuel distributors, logistics firms and warehouses, and it also runs an access-control business. It was profitable and paying dividends until a delayed major order in 2024 set off a strategic review, a new CEO, a restructuring and a £1.2m write-off of development costs. It now has about £2m of net cash and roughly flat sales, but it is loss-making, and it says profit should return in 2027.
Mobile computers for fuel depots, warehouses and secure sites
Touchstar sells mobile data computing solutions and managed services to industrial customers. It is best known for the fuel industry, where its systems run petrochemical distribution. The Board calls this a profitable but relatively small market. It wants to be the partner of choice for all depots, warehouses and retailers, and it also sells access control (entry and security systems) through its ATC business.
Recurring revenue, mainly support and software subscriptions, was £3.2m of £6.8m in 2025, or 47%. Overseas sales were 9.8% of revenue in 2023. Large fuel installations tend to land in the second half, so half-year results are uneven. 7 May 2026 16 Sep 2025 17 Apr 2024
2023: a good year and the first dividend
In 2023 revenue rose 7% to £7.2m and pre-tax profit rose 60% to £675,000. The company paid a total dividend of 2.5p a share, after paying none the year before, and bought back 275,000 shares. Chair Ian Martin said he wanted to step down during 2024. Natasha Rourke, a company employee since 2007, became CFO in December 2023. 17 Apr 2024 11 Mar 2024 13 Dec 2023
2024: a delayed order and a strategic review
In September 2024 the Board opened a strategic review with Zeus as adviser. A sale was one possible outcome. The Board said two unsolicited approaches had not progressed. The shares reached 110p that month. In October the company warned that a significant order had slipped to 2025, and revenue for the year fell 4.6% to £6.9m. Pre-tax profit fell 42.5% to £388,000.
In February 2025 the review ended with the company staying standalone. The shares drifted to about 74p by April 2025. 26 Sep 2024 29 Oct 2024 17 Feb 2025 29 Apr 2025
“The delay of a major order adversely affected our financial performance and undermined the credibility we had established in meeting expectations.” 29 Apr 2025
2025: new CEO, bigger spending, then a write-off
Lynden Jones joined the Board in March 2025 and became CEO on 1 July, succeeding Mark Hardy. In March the company said 2025 should bring revenue growth and higher profit. The year went the other way. Management moved software development from India to Manchester, restructured sales, widened its target market and raised the buyback programme to £1m. It ended the formal programme at the end of September. In April 2025 management had warned that the new phase 'may erode short term profits'.
In December 2025 the company warned that revenue would come in around £6.7m, below market expectations, and that it expected only modest growth in 2026. A review found that some capitalised development costs (costs carried on the balance sheet rather than expensed) were no longer recoverable. The company wrote off £1.18m. Without exceptional items it broke even before tax, but it reported a £1.3m pre-tax loss. The shares fell from about 90p in mid-2025 to 60p in December. 18 Mar 2025 24 Jun 2025 16 Sep 2025 16 Dec 2025 7 May 2026
“We have entered a phase that will require higher levels of investment and may erode short term profits.” 29 Apr 2025
2026: simplifying products and sales
In the first half of 2026 revenue was flat at £3.4m and adjusted EBITDA (operating profit before depreciation and amortisation) fell to £29,000 from £235,000. Gross margin fell to 46.4% from 55.0%. Of the 8.6-point fall, 6.3 points came from no longer capitalising development salaries, and 2.3 points from pay inflation and higher employer National Insurance. The company moved from field-based to office-based internal sales, which it says slowed order intake in the short term. After the period end it stopped standalone development of its PODStar product and folded it into a single Touchstar platform. A new Head of Engineering is in post. The company cut the interim dividend to 1.50p from 1.75p. 28 Sep 2026 2 Sep 2026 28 Sep 2026
Lumpy orders, softer margins and slower fixes
The 2024 shortfall came from a single delayed order, which shows how much results depend on a few large fuel installations. Capitalising development costs had also lifted reported margins and EBITDA. The company has reset that policy, so later figures are lower but closer to cash.
Timing has been optimistic. In September 2025 the company expected the transformation to be 'substantially completed' by year end. In September 2026 it said the work had proved more extensive than expected, with extra legacy issues. The company's own scorecard rates engineering, commercial capability and culture as amber, meaning work in progress. Customer retention is rated green. 29 Apr 2025 16 Sep 2025 28 Sep 2026
A new CEO who is buying shares
Lynden Jones has been CEO since July 2025. Ian Martin remains Chair, though he said in April 2024 he wished to stand down, and Mark Hardy remains a director. Natasha Rourke is CFO.
Between January and October 2026 Jones disclosed repeated share purchases at prices of roughly 60p to 84p, including 250,000 shares at 65p in February. Ian Martin held 10.5% in November 2025, and Thomas Charlton's stake rose from 11.0% to 13.3% between October 2025 and January 2026. 13 Dec 2023 18 Mar 2025 21 Jan 2026 25 Feb 2026 18 Aug 2026 6 Oct 2026 4 Nov 2025 29 Oct 2025 12 Jan 2026
Flat sales, thin cash buffer of £2m, loss still ahead
At 30 June 2026 the company held £2.0m of net cash, with recurring revenue up 4.6% to £1.6m. The order book was £2.6m, up 4.4%. Management cautions that first-half orders are not a guide to second-half revenue.
A September 2026 update said second-half revenue should be slightly lower than the first half. It also said the full-year loss should be smaller than the market had expected, because of cost control and slower hiring. The shares closed September at 67.5p, down from 85p a month earlier. 28 Sep 2026 2 Sep 2026
Profit promised for 2027
In May 2026 the Board said it expected a return to revenue growth and profitability in 2027. It named four drivers: more activity in logistics, fuel distribution, warehousing and access control; overseas expansion, including the Nordics and Baltics; and a shift to SaaS and multi-year recurring contracts. In December 2025 it had already said it expected a step change in revenue growth in 2027.
Second-half 2026 is meant to move from reorganising to executing. That means embedding engineering leadership and the new sales structure, and investing only in measured steps. The company has not given a revenue or profit figure for 2027. 7 May 2026 16 Dec 2025 28 Sep 2026
Written by AI from Touchstar's own announcements since Oct 2023 · every paragraph links to its sources