AIM-listed workspace technology provider essensys, has agreed to a recommended cash offer from essensys Bidco Limited, a newly formed vehicle backed by essensys founder and controlling shareholder Mark Furness.

The offer values the company at approximately £11.3 million, with shareholders set to receive 17 pence per share in cash. That represents a premium of around 9.7% to the closing price of 15.5p on 27 November 2025, before the offer period began, and an 11.3% premium to the one-month volume-weighted average price over the same period.

The company’s independent directors, advised by Canaccord Genuity, have backed the deal, while Furness himself was excluded from that decision due to his role as Bidco’s controlling shareholder.

As an alternative, shareholders can elect to receive one new Bidco share for each essensys share held, though these carry no voting rights.

Founded in 2006 and admitted to AIM in 2019, essensys provides software and technology to landlords and flexible workspace operators across the UK, Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific.

Under new leadership over the past year, the company has streamlined its strategy around two core products: the essensys Platform, a SaaS solution for enterprise-grade wi-fi across multi-tenant workspaces, and elumo, a bookings and access tool launched in March 2025.

If the deal goes ahead, which it looks like it will, essensys will be the latest London-listed firm to succumb to poor performance and lack of investor interest.

“I founded essensys almost 20 years ago and remain its largest shareholder. In recent years, we have undertaken significant work to reshape the business – strengthening our digital experience capabilities, deepening relationships with blue-chip global customers and materially improving our cost base and operational discipline,” said Mark Furness of essensys Bidco.

“essensys Platform has been repositioned to meet evolving market needs, and elumo, following a long and complex development journey, is now at the beginning of its commercial rollout.

“However, trading volatility and continued weakness in the Company’s share price mean that, in my view, essensys cannot sustainably continue as a quoted company in its current form. The costs, constraints and short-term pressures associated with a public quotation are increasingly disproportionate to the Company’s scale and to the investment required to realise the opportunity ahead.

“I believe essensys now needs to operate as a private company with greater agility, a lower structural cost base and a longer-term horizon.”

Unite Group has agreed to sell St Pancras Way, a 571-bed student accommodation property in London, to the Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund (USAF) for £186 million.

USAF is the largest specialist student accommodation fund in the UK, comprising around 28,000 beds across 68 properties in 19 university towns and cities. Unite holds a 28% stake and acts as the fund’s manager.

The disposal price represents a roughly 1% discount to the property’s December 2025 book value and yields a net operating income of 4.7%. Unite’s share of the transaction comes to £126 million, with the company expecting minimum net cash proceeds of £115 million.

St Pancras Way was developed by Unite in 2014 and is fully nominated to University College London for the 2026/27 academic year. A light refurbishment of common areas is due to be completed later this year.

The deal will be funded through existing cash headroom in USAF and the issue of new USAF units, fully underwritten by Unite. Depending on whether existing USAF investors exercise their pre-emption rights, the equity issue could lift Unite’s ownership in the fund from 30% to a maximum of 32%, though the company intends to bring that back to around 30% over the medium term.

The deal was announced alongside 2025 results that showed adjusted earnings rose 9% as average rents rose 4%.

The group, however, noted that the new PBSA supply was 50% below pre-pandemic levels, and there were also pressures from HMOs.

“Unite Group’s full year 2025 results are a tale of operational resilience amid gathering clouds for UK student housing,” said Adam Vettese, market analyst for eToro.

“Rents climbed 4%, occupancy hit a very impressive 95%, and adjusted earnings rose 9% which seems to tick all the boxes on execution. Cash flow remains robust, share buybacks continue, and the balance sheet is in reasonable shape with EPRA net assets slightly off but steady at 955p per share.”

The FTSE 100 recovered early losses on Monday as traders digested the latest volley of tariff threats by the US President.

While tariff announcements still bring back memories of the fallout from Liberation Day last April, Trump’s propensity to ‘chicken out’ and not follow through on threats has meant the latest outburst was taken largely in the market’s stride.

London’s leading index was flat at the time of writing after recovering losses of around 30 points in the opening hours of trading.

“There is some trepidation in the air after last Friday’s ruling from the Supreme Court,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“While tariffs are generally not seen as market friendly, investors had absorbed the trade policies announced by the Trump administration last year and were just hoping for some certainty and stability. 

“Last week’s intervention from the Supreme Court delivers none of that – President Trump’s subsequent announcement of 10% global levies, rising to 15% over the weekend, can stay in place for a few months before they require congressional approval.”

There was a 60:40 split in favour of FTSE 100 gainers on Monday, reflecting the indecision Trump’s comments over the week brought to markets.

JD Sports was the FTSE 100’s top gainer after the struggling retailer launched a £200m buyback programme as shares languished around 80p. JD shares traded above 230p in 2021 and have slowly ebbed away since.

Fresnillo broke above 4,000p, trading up 4% on the day, to the highest point in February as precious metals attracted traders on the back of Trump’s tariff announcement. Gold miner Endevour Mining was 3.6% higher.

Mondi was the FTSE 100’s top loser as selling pressure sparked by last week’s results persisted. Shares were down another 3% on Monday.

Recent all-time highs for BAE Systems prompted profit-taking on Monday, sending shares 2% lower.

Cizzle Biotechnology shares jumped on Monday after announcing it had agreed a new payment schedule with its North American licensing partner Cizzle Bio Inc (BIO) that adds a further US$3.5m in guaranteed minimum royalty payments.

The additional payments, equivalent to at least US$500,000 per year, will kick in when the current agreement is extended in 2031. They sit on top of the existing US$2.4m in guaranteed advance royalties due by the end of 2026, of which US$590,000 has been received so far.

The remaining US$1.81m is expected before 31 December 2026, though the company has cautioned it may need to seek alternative funding if those payments are delayed.

Under the licence, Cizzle receives a 10% royalty on gross sales of its CIZ1B biomarker test, which is designed to detect early-stage lung cancer.

“The Company and BIO are committed to provide clinicians with an important cost-effective tool in early cancer detection which, to become scalable and widely available, requires a long-term collaborative approach,” said Allan Syms, Executive Chairman of Cizzle Biotechnology.

“The further guaranteed minimum royalty payments to be paid by BIO over the long term, along with a payment plan aligned with the launch and commercialisation of the test, means that BIO has now confirmed the Company will receive a minimum of US$5.9m over the contract term.”

MONY Group, the owner of MoneySuperMarket, has reported record full-year results for 2025, with revenue rising 2% to a record £446.3m and adjusted EBITDA climbing 2% to a new high of £145.1m.

The group delivered the results despite what it described as “significant headwinds” in car insurance, with growth driven by strong performances in its Money and Home Services divisions. Banking and borrowing activity proved particularly buoyant, while energy revenue returned to growth as consumers capitalised on competitive deals.

Profit after tax edged up 1% to £80.7m, while adjusted basic earnings per share rose 5% to 17.9p. Operating costs fell 4%, helping push the adjusted EBITDA margin up to 33%.

But some analysts weren’t convinced that the record financial performance could be sustained.

“MONY Group’s latest results are the kind that leave investors conflicted, solid fundamentals on one hand, but persistent cracks in sentiment on the other,” said Mark Crouch, market analyst at eToro.

“Record revenue and a modest rise in adjusted EBITDA show the core business is holding up, particularly against the well-flagged weakness in car insurance switching. Cost discipline is also clear, with operating expenses down 4% and adjusted EPS up 5%.

“Yet the share price paints a less flattering picture. Languishing at multi-year lows, shares have failed to rally on what is, objectively, a steady update, with investors seemingly unconvinced that incremental top-line gains will translate into sustained growth.”

Membership momentum

MONY Group’s SuperSaveClub now has more than 2.1 million members and accounts for 16% of group revenue, with the company noting improved customer lifetime value expectations. Provider services revenue grew 13%.

On the technology front, the group signed an enterprise agreement with OpenAI and launched a MoneySuperMarket ChatGPT app, alongside new products including Savings by MoneySuperMarket and Price Optimiser.

Dividend

The board proposed a final dividend of 9.30p per share, bringing the full-year payout to 12.63p, up 1%. A £30m share buyback was completed during 2025, with a further £25m programme now announced for the year ahead. Total shareholder returns for the year came to £96m.

The meagre increase in the dividend suggests underlying concerns about the business’s trajectory in the age of AI and whether revenue can continue to grow amid increased competition.

Outlook

The board said it was confident of delivering 2026 adjusted EBITDA within the current analyst consensus range of £142m to £153m, with a central estimate of £146m. Car insurance headwinds eased during the second half, though cashback and travel remained under pressure from weak consumer confidence.