Fintel grows revenue and earnings on the back of acquisitions

Tech provider to the financial services industry Fintel says it has made a positive start to the year following a rise in revenues and earnings on the back of an acquisition spree. The Huddersfield-based plc, which owns a number of brands including defaqto and simplybiz, saw statutory revenue climb 20.6% to £78.3m in 2024, while adjusted operating profits in the same year reached £18.7m, up from £16.9m. Meanwhile core revenue figures - which exclude panel management and surveying activities - were up 21.9% to £68.9m. It also pointed to 17% growth in core SaaS and subscription revenue to £44.1m. Fintel chair Phil Smith noted further volatility in the UK market, caused by global instabilities; "landmark" changes in the UK regulatory environment; and major events such as the Labour Government's first UK budget. But despite the challenging domestic and international backdrop, he expected the UK financial services sector to continue offering growth opportunities - crucially in the technology and data analytics sub-sectors, as well as anticipation of a resurgence in the mortgage market. Growth at Fintel has been underpinned by a series of eight acquisitions since summer 2023, including a number last year in Owen James, Synaptic Software, ifadash, Mortgage Brain and Threesixty Services. It also acquired fund ratings and research agency Rayner Spencer Mills Research Limited in January this year. Overall, the group spent £31.7m and now expects those businesses to contribute to growth in 2025. Matt Timmins, joint CEO of Fintel, said the business had started 2025 well, bringing in new customers. He said: "2024 has been a seminal year for Fintel, marked by continued strategic advancements and strong financial performance. The company has delivered robust results, with complementary acquisitions contributing to substantial growth in SaaS and subscription-based revenues. "We have expanded the Fintel group by welcoming four new businesses in 2024, with the previously announced acquisition of RSMR successfully completing in January 2025. These strategic acquisitions, combined with ongoing investments in our proprietary technology and data solutions, have enhanced our intellectual property, scale, and market presence, laying the foundation for sustained organic growth."

Tech investor backs Bristol AI transparency startup

A Bristol tech business that aims to make artificial intelligence (AI) systems more transparent has been backed by tech investor Symvan Capital. Tikos, based at the University of West England’s Future Space in Stoke Gifford, specialises in compliance and trust solutions for AI. London-based Symvan says its investment, whose value has not been disclosed, comes at a "particularly strategic time” as the UK government is preparing to introduce new regulation regarding AI at a time when more and more companies are looking to adopt the technology. Symvan says many businesses are reluctant to adopt AI due to transparency concerns and the “black box problem”, where decisions made by AI can be hard to understand and explain. The investor says Tikos’ platform aims to make AI systems “more transparent and trustworthy for users, compliance teams, and regulators”. Symvan said: “Tikos' proprietary reasoning engine, combined with its efficient 'expert-in-the-loop' system design, positions the company at the forefront of compliance-ready AI solutions.” Tikos was founded last year by Mike Oaten, now CEO, and Dr Don Liyanage, now chief scientist and CTO. It is also working with Nvidia, Microsoft and Innovate UK through their specialist business programmes. Symvan investment manager Michael Theodosiou said: "We're excited to support Mike and Don in making AI systems trustworthy and compliant, addressing one of the most urgent challenges in AI. With over a decade of proprietary research, their ability to retrofit explainability and auditability into existing models is game-changing for regulated industries and high-stakes AI applications."

New rules on social media content come into force on Monday

Technology firms must tackle illegal content on their platforms under new rules, but there are concerns that the changes are too weak. From Monday, Ofcom will start enforcing the Online Safety Act’s illegal content codes, requiring social media companies to find and remove content such as child sexual abuse material. The Government says it represents a “major step forward”, but critics say the media regulator’s approach is “timid” because it fails to protect children from harmful content and pacifies online firms. Ian Russell, whose daughter Molly killed herself aged 14 in November 2017 after viewing harmful content on social media, said Monday “should have been a watershed moment” but that children and families have been “let down by Ofcom’s timidity and lack of ambition”. The chairman of the Molly Rose Foundation said Ofcom “appears to have lost sight of the fundamental purpose of regulation”, which is preventing harm. Mr Russell said “it is increasingly apparent” that the regulator’s timid approach has been “dominated by their fear of legal challenge and their eagerness to placate the tech companies”. He added: “Worried parents across the country are dismayed by yet more half measures and are calling for the Prime Minister to commit to urgent and decisive action. Adding further government dither and delay before improving digital protection is unacceptable, the life-threatening gaps in the Online Safety Act need to be fixed now.” However, Ofcom said it had “moved quickly and set out robust safety measures” and “won’t hesitate to take action against platforms that fall short”. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said the changes “represent a major step forward in creating a safer online world”. Mr Kyle said that “for too long” child abuse material, terrorist content and intimate image abuse has been “easy to find online”, but that social media platforms now have a legal duty to prevent and remove it. He added: “In recent years, tech companies have treated safety as an afterthought. That changes today. “This is just the beginning. I’ve made it clear that where new threats emerge, we will act decisively. The Online Safety Act is not the end of the conversation, it’s the foundation.” The illegal content codes relate to material such as child sexual exploitation and abuse, terrorism, hate crimes, content encouraging or assisting suicide, and fraud. New duties on social media firms require them to detect and remove the content, using advanced tools such as automated hash-matching and robust moderation and reporting mechanisms. Ofcom has the power to fine non-compliant firms up to £18 million or 10% of their qualifying global turnover under the Online Safety Act – whichever is greater – and in very serious cases can apply for sites to be blocked in the UK. An Ofcom spokesperson said: “Platforms must now act quickly to come into compliance with their legal duties, and our codes are designed to help them do that. But, make no mistake, any provider who fails to introduce the necessary protections can expect to face the full force of our enforcement action.” On the changes, Andy Burrows, chief executive of Molly Rose Foundation, said “there is not one single measure to target suicide and self-harm offences”. Ofcom said it has set out “several specific measures that services can take to protect adults and children from suicide and self-harm content”. Mr Burrows went on: “As global law enforcement agencies queue up to warn of deeply disturbing new threats, including children being groomed for acts of suicide and self-harm, UK children remain at palpable yet wholly preventable risk. “The Government needs to urgently intervene with decisive action, not piecemeal proposals that would mean many more years of sticking plasters.” Chris Sherwood of the NSPCC said while the children’s charity is “hopeful” that the changes will help keep young people safe, it is “concerned that Ofcom’s final codes of practice are not yet strong enough”. He said there was an “unacceptable loophole” where illegal content is only required to be removed where it is technically feasible, which he said “lets tech platforms off the hook”. Ofcom said it expects the “vast majority” of platforms will be able to take content down and that it will investigate any claims about it not being technically feasible. Mr Sherwood added: “Today marks an important step forward. “But the government and Ofcom must work together and significantly strengthen the codes of practice to ensure this legislation results in meaningful change for children.” Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) welcomed progress on the Online Safety Act but also questioned its effectiveness. He highlighted the ongoing risks of social media on young people, such as bullying, harmful content, and poorly enforced age requirements and called for “decisive steps” to be made. Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy said that while it is “positive” that platforms must do more to stop user-generated fraud, the new rules do not extend to other prevalent scams, such as many paid-for fraudulent ads. She added: “Under the current timetable for the Online Safety Act, firms in scope of the fraudulent advertising duties in the Act will not be held accountable for breach of those duties until 2027. This is simply not good enough and leaves consumers unnecessarily exposed to countless scam ads. The Online Safety Act must be implemented in full as soon as possible or the government risks letting millions more fall victim to ruthless online fraudsters.”

Street food is still a defining force in the culinary scene of Istanbul

Jennifer Johnson 

When Cenk Debensason is hungry, he rarely reaches for a Michelin guide for tips. “Whenever I think of food in Istanbul, I think of this,” the chef behind the celebrated Arkestra restaurant tells Monocle as he stands beside a vendor while a fish sizzles on the grill atop a simple cart. Debensason is here by the edge of the Bosphorus forbalik ekmek: mackerel with onions, parsley, sumac and cumin, served in a hunk of fluffy white bread. Alongside thesimit– sesame-crusted rings that are sweetly caramelised outside and pillowy soft within – such simple snacks are the city’s staples. But for all of the tiledlokantasi(workers’ bistros), black-tea sellers and kebab shops, Turkish fare has undergone something of a reinvention of late.Cenk DebensassonDebensason trained in France and, with his wife and business partner, Debora Ipekel, creates simple yet sophisticated spins on modern European and Turkish classics, using ingredients grown and caught around the city. The Michelin guide arrived in Istanbul in 2022 (the inspectors went to the western provinces of Izmir and Bodrum a year later) and Arkestra, based in a discreet modernist villa in the Etiler district, was one of the establishments that earned a coveted star. It marked a major step up in the city’s culinary reputation.The Arkestra kitchenWarm interiors invite guests to lingerMeanwhile at Turk, a sleek establishment with a months-long waiting list in fashionable Bomonti, Fatih Tutak fuses Turkish flavours with techniques that he learned during his 15 years working in some of Asia’s top restaurants. At Neolokal, set in the grand building that housed the Ottoman empire’s central bank, Maksut Askar riffs on the flavours of his home region of Hatay (Turkey’s gastronomic capital, according to some), adding a sustainable slant by using regional produce and providing a vegetarian menu – something that would have been hard to come by just 10 years ago.There’s a fierce wind whipping across the Bosphorus when we arrive at the packed terrace restaurant of the Sakip Sabanci Museum. This landmark building in Istanbul’s affluent northern suburbs has one of the best waterside vantage points in the city and a menu to match. It is the training restaurant for the MSA (the Mutfak Sanatlari Akademisi, or the Culinary Arts Academy), Turkey’s premier school for chefs, meaning that the food here, as affordable as it is, reaches the standards of the city’s most elite institutions.Here we meet Sitare Baras, the managing director of the MSA, and Sabiha Apaydin Gonenli, one of Turkey’s foremost sommeliers. Baras is keen to try the new dishes on the menu, so we order delicate slivers of beef tartare in a tangy sauce;icli kofte, tiny meatballs stuffed inside bulgur dough; hummus; and delicatelahmacun, crispbreads topped with meat and tomato. Dessert is a twist on an Istanbul street-food classic: candied chestnut, reimagined as a creamy mousse topped with feather-light whipped cream. “We didn’t have avant-garde chefs before the 2000s,” says Baras. “Turkish food used to be very local. We transformed the quality of the education in the country. Our graduates work in all of the biggest restaurants and a lot of them who came from Anatolia want to go back to their hometowns and raise the bar there.”MSA students working in the Sakip Sabanci Museum restaurantThe MSA’s premises in Maslak, a bustling business district on the European side of Istanbul, is a mix of nostalgia and cutting-edge efficiency. In the foyer are glass-fronted cabinets stuffed with vintage food tins and wine bottles but the training kitchens are kitted out with stop clocks and viewing windows that allow visitors to watch the trainees in action, replicating the high-octane atmosphere of a working kitchen. Here, Baras hopes that chefs will be able to hone their skills to the millimetre-fine accuracy required in the top kitchens.“We tell the students that it should be a reflex when they are cutting – their mind should be on the next stage,” says Sergin Keyder, one of the trainers, who started as a student at the school eight years ago. “At first I was working with a ruler and stickers on my cutting board. I ate carrot purée for two months.”The MSA’s diploma is internationally recognised and its former students, who number about 30,000, have gone on to work in kitchens worldwide, as well as refilling the city’s culinary talent pool. Turkish cuisine is the school’s bedrock but it also teaches other styles, reflecting the increasing appetite for variety in Istanbul. Birol Can is one of the 2025 cohort. The 27-year-old had already completed a degree in cinema and was living in his home city of Tekirdag when he decided to pursue his childhood dream and sign up at the MSA. He hopes to open a French or Italian restaurant in his hometown once he graduates.Perfect platingGreen shootsTurkish wine is also stepping up after years of obscurity. Apaydin Gonenli is a former chief of front-of-house operations at Mikla, an Istanbul institution where she was responsible for food and wine pairings. In 2019 she organised the first Root, Origin, Soil conference to showcase Turkish viticulture, an event that is now held biannually. “We were always drinking the same six Turkish grape varieties and I wondered why,” says Gonenli. “In Turkey we have about 800 unique varieties and I started promoting them. When I set out, there were 20 indigenous varieties available commercially. Now there are 60.”The bottles are now making their way into high-end restaurants and a few pioneers are popularising wine bars. Chief among them is Foxy in Istanbul’s smart Nisantasi district, a venture by Maksut Askar and wine expert Levon Bagis, where an extensive and ever-changing selection of regional varieties is available by the glass, alongside fresh twists on classic mezze.Above all – and despite the role that Michelin has played in internationalising and glamorising Turkish food – there is still something pleasingly democratic about the restaurant scene here. “Our customers come here for a good time, not to feel overwhelmed,” says Debensason, while explaining why Arkestra offers à la carte rather than the tasting menu often favoured by Michelin inspectors.On the weekday evening that Monocle visits, the atmosphere at the restaurant is fittingly fun and informal. The tables are full but Debensason and Ipekel mingle with guests, explaining new dishes and recommending wine pairings. When Monocle asks where he would head for a taste of the city, Debensason suggests Donerci Engin, an unassuming hole in the wall with plastic furniture in Beyoglu that serves nothing more complicated than a classic doner kebab. Prices might be on the rise but don’t let anyone tell you an international reputation has cost Istanbul’s food scene its authenticity or its originality.Tastes of the cityHere are some of Istanbul’s culinary attractions beyond the white tablecloths and polished dining rooms.Lunch at Ismet Baba in KuzguncukBoiled corn-on-the-cob vendor at Eminonu portOne of the city’s vitamin bars, where fresh juice is squeezed to orderPandeliThis canteen feels like a hidden palace and is the best spot in the city for a quick, inexpensive lunch with views over Eminonu port. Turkish staples have been served here for about a century and the quality has never dipped. Arrive early or reserve to secure the best table.pandeli.com.trA lunchtime plate at PandeliKarakoy historic fish marketYou need to venture to the lesser known side of Karakoy to get to this market. Cross through the underpass that runs under the Galata Bridge and you’ll find it just a few steps beyond. This is where locals come to buy the freshest catch to take home. But you can also ask one of the adjoining restaurants to cook your choice for you or get it served in a sandwich or wrap to eat by the waterside.Catch of the day at the Karakoy fish market‘Simit’ stands, citywideYou’ll findsimiteverywhere but if you want the freshest available, look for the vendors with the highest turnover. You can’t go far wrong at any of the city-centre ports, where thousands of people pass by every hour. One of the most atmospheric is the cart just outside Besiktas port, which has a lovely backdrop of the historic terminal and the Bosphorus beyond.Basta!Founded by two chefs who worked in Michelin-starred restaurants outside Turkey, this no-fuss spot has the best wraps (dürüm) in the city. The menu is tight, with options that you can count on one hand, but the flavour combinations are so well balanced that you’ll keep coming back for more. Try the lamb with harissa and yoghurt. The pavement seats make for prime people-watching spots.bastafood.comKebapci Zeki UstaProprietor Yilmaz Omeroglu uses only the freshest meat for his kebabs and meatballs. There’s no doner here, however. Zeki Usta’s specialities areadanaandurfakebabs, richly spiced and served with pillowy pitta bread. This atmospheric café is in the heart of Kuzguncuk, a quaint neighbourhood of coloured houses and ancient churches on the Asian side.Kuzguncuk, Icadiye Caddesi 31Moda Tea GardenTea is a way of life in Istanbul and you’re never too far away from a seller brewing a fresh batch. Seek out the tea gardens if you want to retreat from Istanbul’s chaos and sip your drink in peace. Our favourite is in the Moda district on the Asian side, on a bluff overlooking the Sea of Marmara.Caferaga, Park Ici Yolu, 34710 KadikoyLocals spend an afternoon at the Moda tea gardenRising to the challengeMuch has been done to improve Istanbul’s drinking-and-dining scene but there remain challenges – not least the Turkish economy, which continues to suffer from sky-high inflation that has pushed the once famously low dining prices up to levels that you might expect in London or Paris. The government is also slapping punitive taxes and restrictions on alcohol producers and retailers, including a wide-ranging ban on advertising, which even precludes wine-tasting events. “We can produce but not promote,” says Sabiha Apaydin Gonenli, wine director of Istanbul’s Mikla and co-founder of Heritage Vines of Turkey. “When I am teaching front-of-house courses, I ask my students how many grape varieties they know. Most still don’t know any Turkish varieties.”Luckily, Gonenli’s work and that of many of the city’s best chefs is helping to create a market for Turkish wine. Several vineyards are now also opening to the public, many of them in pleasingly unexpected places. Monocle recently enjoyed an afternoon at Eskibaglar winery in the mountains of Elazig in eastern Anatolia, where ancient vines have been brought back into commercial use and complemented by a smart on-site restaurant and hotel.