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Despite ongoing tariff uncertainty, Microsoft delivered another solid performance in Q3 (three months ended March 31st, 2025). To address growing concerns about potential disruptions to cloud services caused by worsening EU-US trading relations, the company also announced new European digital commitments.
Revenue for the period was up by 13% year-on-year (15% in constant currency) to $70.1bn; this compared to 17% growth in the same period last year (Q3 2024) and 12% growth in Q2 2025. Year-to-date (YTD) revenue was up by 14% to $205.3bn. Operating income improved by 16% (19% in constant currency) to $32.0bn, with YTD operating income up 16% to $94.2bn. Meanwhile, net income increased by 18% (19% in constant currency) to $25.8bn, with YTD improving by 13% to $74.6bn.
On a segmented basis, Revenue in Productivity & Business Processes was up by 10% (13% in constant currency) to $29.9bn and More Personal Computing revenue increased by 6% (7% in constant currency) to $13.4 billion; however, Intelligent Cloud remains the key growth driver. Revenue in this part of the business increased by 21% (22% in constant currency) to $26.8bn, driven by 33% growth (35% in constant currency) in Azure and other cloud services revenue. The demand for AI continues to drive growth in this segment, with a 16 percentage point contribution to growth being attributed to AI services.
Looking ahead, Microsoft expects Q4 revenue growth in Productivity & Business Processes and Intelligent Cloud (in constant currency) to be broadly consistent with Q3; however, More Personal Computing revenue is expected to decline year-on-year. It also warned that, while it continues to add datacentre capacity, demand is growing faster, so it expects to experience AI capacity constraints beyond June.
In a bid to quell fears that the US administration might start to throttle or suspend cloud services if EU-US trading relations worsen, Brad Smith (vice chair & president of Microsoft) announced five new commitments to Europe. This includes helping to build a broad AI and cloud ecosystem; upholding Europe’s digital resilience even when there is geopolitical volatility; continuing to protect the privacy of European data; defending Europe’s cybersecurity; and strengthening Europe’s economic competitiveness.
Its European Digital Resilience Commitment includes a promise to “promptly and vigorously” contest any governmental order to suspend or cease European cloud operations, using “all legal avenues available”. The company is making this commitment legally binding on Microsoft Corporation and all its subsidiaries for all contracts with European national governments and the European Commission.
Although Microsoft believes such an order to be “unlikely”, the fact that it is making this commitment reflects increasing concerns about the geopolitical volatility triggered by the US government. These policies are raising important questions about US companies’ dominance of cloud services and increasing calls for investment in sovereign infrastructure in the EU and the UK. For more on the US-UK trade situation, see TechMarketView’s recent report: US-UK tariff situation: UK tech market implications.
Posted by: Dale Peters at 10:08
Tags:
results
cloud
AI
data
hyperscalers
Europe
tariffs
sovereignty
Denmark-headquartered IT consultancy Netcompany has announced solid results for Q1 2025 (ended 31st March 2025), with group revenue increasing 9% year-over-year in constant currency to DKK 1,744.3m and adjusted EBITDA climbing 25% ccy yoy to DKK 307.3m, representing a margin improvement of over 2 percentage points to 17.7% ccy.
During Q1, Netcompany announced the acquisition of SDC (a Scandinavian banking solutions provider) that will create a new combined company, fully owned by Netcompany: Netcompany Banking Services (see Netcompany acquires SDC to expand Nordic banking services). However, that’s yet to affect revenue results – with the transaction on schedule to be completed around mid-2025.
Netcompany’s UK operation delivered stable performance amid continued market challenges, with revenue of DKK 162.4m broadly in line with Q1 2024 (down just half a percent). Public Sector revenue showed a welcome return to growth (up 9% in the quarter to DKK 126.9m, coming off the back of a 12.1% fall across FY24 – see Netcompany up 7.4% overall in FY24, though contract delays dampen UK public sector), with the DALAS framework “slowly starting to show positive trends”. This suggestion of potential for increased activity in coming quarters is particularly significant, as Public Sector now represents 78% of Netcompany UK's revenue.
The company’s UK private sector business saw a 22.2% decline in Q1 2025 to DKK 39.6m (reversing the 10.6% growth trend it showed across FY24), largely due to the strategic discontinuation of historical low-margin contracts. However, this deliberate portfolio realignment in the private sector has yielded positive results for Netcompany UK, with gross profit margin increasing to 21.8% compared to 19% in the same quarter last year. Adjusted EBITDA margin also improved by 1.6 percentage points to 11.3%.
Despite the current macro-economic situation, Netcompany reiterated its FY revenue growth expectations of between 5% and 10%, and an adjusted EBITDA margin between 16% and 19%. For the UK business specifically, the improving margin profile and strategic focus on public sector work positions the operation well for profitable growth as the DALAS framework gains momentum throughout 2025.
Posted by: Craig Wentworth at 10:00
Tags:
results
growth
frameworks
Eleco plc, a building lifecycle software company, delivered an FY24 performance ahead of market expectations in terms of revenue, profitability and cash. Turnover for the twelve months ended 31st December increased by 17% yoy at constant currency to £32.8m with the associated EBITDA rising by 24% yoy to £7.2m. Cash, post acquisition activity, was up by £3.1m to £14.0m and the company remains debt free.
Eleco’s top line improvement was assisted by the purchase of Romania-HQ’d software developer Vertical Digital at the start of Q224. The company also clocked up record recurring revenue growth in FY24 with ARR by increasing 18% yoy to £26.6m.
Despite the present geopolitical and macroeconomic situation, Eleco is confident that it remains on a strong growth trajectory. The post FY end purchase of Irish SaaS Computerised Maintenance and Management Software specialist PMI Software Ltd (PEMAC) will certainly help to sustain the company’s forward momentum and investors appear to share Eleco’s optimism on the outlook. At the time of writing Eleco’s share price was up by 11.6% on last night’s close to leave the company worth almost two fifths more than it was twelve months ago.
Posted by: Duncan Aitchison at 09:43
Tags:
results
saas
software
construction
Teleperformance (now rebranded as TP) has delivered a solid Q1, with revenue reaching €2,613m, up 2.8% as reported and 1.6% like-for-like. When adjusted for the non-renewal of its UK visa management contract, like-for-like growth improved to 2.6%. TP had been contracted to manage visa applications in various regions, including Europe, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa. However, in late 2023, a new contract for the UK's overseas visa and citizenship services was awarded to VFS Global.
The contact centre giant saw momentum in its Core Services segment (+2.3% like-for-like), with a decent performance across Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, India and Latin America. Growth was primarily driven by public services, travel and hospitality, and media/entertainment sectors, alongside development in back-office/BPO services.
The UK numbers are not split out but its referenced that the UK “grew at a dynamic pace and confirmed the trend started in the fourth quarter of last year” benefiting from a ramp-up of new contracts, particularly in the public services and financial services sectors.
Specialised Services revenue increased 10.7% as reported but declined -2.4% like-for-like, reflecting both the integration of ZP (acquired February 2025) and challenges in LanguageLine Solutions amidst a tough business environment.
The company continues its strategic pivot towards AI, forming partnerships with agentic AI firms Ema and Parloa as part of its €100m investment programme for 2025. These partnerships aim to integrate agentic AI solutions with human expertise across customer experience and back-office operations.
With the Majorel integration proceeding alongside the reorganisation of French activities, TP has confirmed its full-year 2025 outlook of 2-4% like-for-like growth (3-5% adjusted for the visa contract loss) and a slight improvement in recurring EBITA margin of 0-10 basis points.
Posted by: Marc Hardwick at 09:34
Tags:
results
CXM
We are delighted to announce the return of our Autumn networking event, An Evening with TechMarketView on Thursday 2nd October 2025.
Join us for this evening reception at the Mall Galleries on The Mall, London, from 18:30-21:30. Enjoy drinks and canapés while connecting with peers, colleagues and friends from the tech sector, and, engage in conversations about current industry developments with members of the TechMarketView team.
During the evening you'll also have the opportunity to enjoy a Private Viewing of Hannah Shergold's exhibition. Scientist-turned-sculptor-turned-Royal Army pilot-turned-painter, her exceptional artwork is inspired by an incredibly unique background and features in some of the most influential collections around the world.
'An Evening with TechMarketView' is a premier annual networking event, bringing together the movers and shakers from across the tech sector. Don't miss this opportunity to build new relationships, strengthen existing partnerships, and gain exclusive insights from our respected analyst team.
Please save the date in your diary - further information and booking details will be available shortly.
Interested in becoming a sponsor? Download our brochure here or contact Deb Seth at dseth@techmarketview.com to find out more about our available packages.
Posted by: TechMarketView Team at 09:33
Cognizant has kicked-off FY25 with a robust Q1 performance. Above top end of guidance revenue growth saw company turnover increase by 8.2% yoy to $5.1bn for the three months ended 31st March. As we flagged in our commentary on Cognizant’s FY24 results (see here), the purchases last year of Belcan and Thirdera contributed significantly to the top line uptick, Recent acquisitions accounted for around a half of the first quarter revenue improvement. Adjusted operating margin increased by 40 bps yoy to 15.5%.
The boost from inorganic growth was enjoyed most both in Cognizant’s North America region and by the company’s Products & Resources vertical unit. Sales in these facets of the business were up by 9.7% and 13.6% to $3.85bn and $1.28bn respectively. Demand from the firm’s Health Sciences clients also held up well. Turnover in this sector, now Cognizant’s largest industry segment by revenue, increased by 11.4% yoy to $1.57bn.
There was also a notable acceleration in Cognizant UK & Ireland’ growth during first quarter. A c.4% qoq increase in sales lifted turnover in the territory to $457m for the period. This was thanks mainly to increasing momentum in the region’s Retail & Consumer Goods, Financial Services and Public Sector verticals with Q1 wins including deals at MacDonalds, Home Office and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The geography’s yoy top line improvement was limited to 1% due to a technicality relating to a change to internal revenue recognition for a particular contract.
Despite the better than expected start to the year in terms of revenue, the company’s bookings for the period proved less resilient. These dipped by 7% yoy in Q1 to leave them up by just 3% on a trailing twelve-month basis at $26.7bn. Cognizant has left guidance for FY25 unchanged with turnover projected to grow at between 3.5% and 6% at constant currency to between $20.5bn and $21.0bn.
Posted by: Duncan Aitchison at 09:27
Tags:
results
offshore
IT+services
Australia-based, but AIM-listed, transport tech specialist Seeing Machines has reported on its KPIs for Q3 2025 (ended 31st March 2025), showing positive momentum – in terms of production volume and sales – as European OEMs prepare for the upcoming regulatory changes. (The requirement for Advanced Driver Distraction Warning systems to be fitted to all newly-registered cars, vans, trucks and buses comes into force in July 2026, as part of the EU’s Vehicle General Safety Regulation.)
Cars on the road with Seeing Machines' AI-enabled Driver Monitoring System technology (which measure head-pose, eyelid closure and eye-gaze direction, etc. to determine driver alertness) increased 77% year-on-year to over 3.24 million units. Quarterly production volumes rose 34% from the previous quarter to 358,162 units, representing a solid recovery from the pronounced 34% dip in Q2 FY2025 (which had aligned with an industry-wide downturn).
In the aftermarket segment, Seeing Machines has commenced commercial production of Guardian Generation 3, its technology for commercial transport fleets. The company anticipates reaching a production run rate of 6,000 units per quarter by end of June 2025, which should help satisfy growing demand across direct and indirect channels.
Despite the positive sentiment, Seeing Machines disclosed that Annual Recurring Revenue for its Guardian tech (excluding historical Caterpillar revenue) remained flat, quarter-on-quarter, at $13.4m. Last August, the company reported that ARR was up 11% to $15.1m for FY24 (see Seeing Machines up 17% in FY24 despite slower new product uptake), and we await FY25’s full figures later this summer.
Posted by: Craig Wentworth at 09:07
Tags:
results
transport
automotive
driver safety
Computacenter has provided the market with an update this morning on its “good performance” in the first quarter for 2025, outperforming the same period last year and meeting its own internal expectations. The tech services provider highlights strong growth in Technology Sourcing revenue, primarily driven by its North American operations, capitalising on a healthy order backlog from late 2024. Shares were up this morning 2.5% at the time of writing.
Regional performance showed varied results with North America maintaining strong momentum, while the UK achieved growth across both Technology Sourcing and Professional Services. Germany performed adequately despite the anticipated temporary slowdown in public sector activity following recent elections.
Group Services revenue increased year-on-year, bolstered by good Professional Services growth that offset a slight decline in Managed Services. The company enters Q2 with a healthy committed product order backlog across all regions, exceeding prior year levels.
Despite increasing global political and macroeconomic uncertainties, Computacenter remains confident in its outlook, looking to make progress for the full year (in constant currency terms) and gain market share.
Half Year Results are out on 9th September when we will report more. In the meantime TechSectorViews subscribers interested in learning more about Computacenter should download a copy of our brand new report “Computacenter: Building long term value”, written by Kate Hanaghan our Chief Research Officer.
Posted by: Marc Hardwick at 09:00
Tags:
VAR
trading update
CGI's Q2 results (period ending 31st March 2025) show total revenue reaching CAN$4.02 billion, representing a robust 7.6% year-on-year increase (3.3% in constant currency). This growth was driven by recent acquisitions and organic growth within government and financial services vertical markets, partially offset by lower demand in the manufacturing, retail, and distribution (MRD), and communications sectors.
The UK & Australia segment stood out as the top performer, with revenue growing by 18.6% year-on-year to CAN$477.0 million (12.1% in constant currency). This impressive growth was driven by strong organic growth and the positive impact of CGI's acquisition of Leeds-based BJSS, which completed on 25th February 2025 (see *UKHotViewsExtra* CGI to buy BJSS: UK headcount boost of 40% | TechMarketView).
With just over a month of BJSS revenue contribution in the quarter (estimated at around CAN$51 million based on BJSS's pre-acquisition annual revenue), we estimate that approximately 12.7 percentage points of the 18.6% growth came from the acquisition, suggesting an organic growth rate of approximately 5.9%.
This performance marks a clear return to form for the region, building on 3.2% constant currency growth in Q1 FY25 and marking a clear shift from the slower growth seen earlier in FY24. With the BJSS acquisition already delivering impact and a strengthening pipeline in place, the UK & Australia segment is well positioned for continued momentum. (see CGI FY24: financial strength to be active consolidator | TechMarketView).
While the segment’s adjusted EBIT margin dipped to 14.5% from 16.0% in Q2 last year — largely due to the expected short-term dilutive impact of the acquisition — This margin compression is typical following major acquisitions as integration activities progress. In Q1 (before the BJSS acquisition), the UK & Australia segment had maintained a stronger adjusted EBIT margin of 16.5%.
On a client geographic basis, government, alongside communications and utilities, were the top two vertical markets for UK & Australia, generating combined revenues of approximately CAN$378 million for the quarter. The addition of BJSS enhances CGI's capabilities across both public and private sectors, with BJSS having particular strength in health (approaching £100m in annual revenue) – see Public sector supplier prospects 2025 and beyond | TechMarketView
Commercial momentum remains strong, with the UK & Australia segment securing bookings of CAN$536.4 million during the quarter and achieving a book-to-bill ratio of 109.7% over the trailing twelve months, providing a useful indicator of healthy demand and future revenue stability.
The March 2025 completion of a US$650 million senior unsecured notes offering (see CGI secures $650M in debt financing, signalling potential M&A activity | TechMarketView) provides financial flexibility, potentially signalling continued M&A activity in line with CEO François Boulanger's stated intention for CGI to act as "an active consolidator in the market."
Posted by: Georgina O'Toole at 20:30
Tags:
results
IT+services
Mastek's UK Secure Government Services business continues to gain momentum despite a challenging public sector landscape, achieving 6% year-on-year growth in FY25 with estimated revenue of £91m-£93m.
In our latest PublicSectorViews report, we examine how Mastek has evolved from a single £1.4m government project in 2014 to managing 21 multi-year contracts today. Four new logos were secured just last quarter, including significant wins with DWP and Post Office.
The report provides an in-depth analysis of Mastek's five core capability areas spanning trade, immigration, security & defence, identity & biometrics, and caseworking automation, with particular strength in AI implementation. Despite facing workforce renewal challenges and public sector spending constraints, Mastek's "delivery first" approach continues to yield results.
*Read the full report* to discover how Mastek is positioning itself for continued growth through strategic initiatives focused on service excellence, data integration, AI capabilities, and expanding its footprint in critical national infrastructure.
If you are not yet a subscriber - or are unsure if your organisation has a corporate subscription - please contact Belinda Tewson to access this research, plus a raft of other deep insights into the UK tech market.
Posted by: Georgina O'Toole at 15:06
Tags:
defence
strategy
health
digital
data
central+government
public sector
Live for members of our Tech User Programme (TUP) is TechMarketView’s latest Market Readiness Index report: Market Readiness Index: The Road to AI Part 2.
Now widely used within the UK senior tech buyer community, the TechMarketView Market Readiness Index is based on a proprietary assessment methodology created to understand and quantify the performance of tech suppliers.
This report has been specifically created to enable senior tech buyers to understand the ability of the leading UK IT Services providers to support their AI journey. Those in this year’s cohort are Top 20 ranking players in the UK market (based on TechMarketView analysis). They are: BT Group, CGI, Deloitte, Fujitsu, Kyndryl, NTT Data, PwC, Sopra Steria, Tech Mahindra, and Wipro.
We would like to thank the suppliers for their help in providing extensive information, time with their Executives, and access to clients.
Methodology
By applying our highly regarded, rigorous, research approach, TechMarketView analysts have assessed suppliers across six areas as they pertain to AI: Corporate Resilience; Suitability of Offerings; Skills & Resources; Partner Ecosystem; Industry Expertise; and Delivery & Execution. This involves undertaking multiple in-depth research interviews with various functions/leaders within the supplier organisation to gain an extensive understanding of strategy, capability, investments and so on. Much of this information is not available in the public domain, and combined with our proprietary data and analysis enables our analysts to construct unique profiling of suppliers.
The MRI – much like Magnetic Resonance Imaging – uncovers both the strengths and the weaknesses and exposes what must be done to improve. Analysts score suppliers across six main areas, with each one containing several further sub-category scoring areas. All scores are then put through a rigorous peer review/benchmarking process to ensure the cohort has been scored fairly and accurately.
The transition from early AI experimentation to value realisation is now well underway. Organisations are increasingly focused on securing faster returns on investment while carefully selecting use cases that deliver tangible business value. But who are your most suitable supplier partners? Find out who and why, here:
Market Readiness Index: The Road to AI Part 2
If you are not a member of the Tech User Programme and would like to find out more, please be in touch.
This MRI is also available to buy as a standalone report.
Contact Belinda Tewson.
Posted by: HotViews Editor at 10:20
Netcall and C2-Ai have announced a partnership intended to help healthcare, local government, and housing organisations better understand the risks and requirements of patients and citizens.
The new arrangement will combine Netcall's process automation and customer engagement capabilities with C2-Ai's tools that help health systems create patient risk profiles to reduce avoidable harm, mortality, and cost. It is intended to enable organisations combine and analyse multi-agency data and make coordinated decisions to reduce risk and improve outcomes.
The companies believe the partnership will reinforce the patient intelligence picture, allowing patients to be identified early as being at high-risk of A&E admission, harm, or complications. It could also enable councils to utilise data from social housing or social care teams. This would help identify factors contributing to an individual's health deterioration, enabling earlier intervention. They also see potential in helping community pharmacists take a coordinated approach to reducing hospital admission.
The partnership aligns to the government’s plan to reform the NHS, which is framed around three shifts in approach: 1) moving from an analogue to a digital NHS; 2) moving more care from hospitals to communities; and 3) moving from sickness to prevention (see A major tilt towards technology in the NHS).
Although both companies have already demonstrated success working with individual NHS organisations and local authorities, multi-agency collaboration is a far greater challenge. The situation has been improved through various initiatives, such as the introduction of shared care records, the digital social care record programme and the NHS Federated Data Platform; however, huge quantities of health, social care and local government data remain siloed. AI will help to accelerate data sharing, but effective multi-agency collaboration requires financial and cultural alignment, not just technical solutions.
Posted by: Dale Peters at 10:11
Tags:
nhs
collaboration
AI
data
healthcare
partnership
local+government
social+care
Digital SI, Endava has joined OpenAI’s Beta Services Partner Program. Participation in the initiative has so far been limited to a select handful of
software and services companies. Inclusion allows suppliers to test and provide feedback on the research organisation’s pre-release technologies before they become widely available.
The announcement formalises a successful collaboration over the past year between the two parties on developing industry-first products and services for their joint customers. Endava reports that it has actively delivered AI solutions to multiple clients using OpenAI technologies. These include its agentic AI accelerator, Morpheus, as well as its discovery accelerator for core modernisation, Compass.
Endava is no doubt hoping that the closer ties with OpenAI will help with the revival of the company’s fortunes following a difficult FY24 (see here). The digital SI’s anticipation last September of a return to double-digit top line growth in the current fiscal appear, however, to have been overly optimistic. Despite a solid Q225 performance (see here), Endava is now taking a more cautious view of its prospects for the remainder of the year. FY25 revenue growth guidance was trimmed two months ago from the 10.0% - 11.5% range to between 8.5% and 9.0% yoy at constant currency.
Posted by: Duncan Aitchison at 09:48
Tags:
AI
partnership
Vodafone and UK National Parks have announced a new three-year partnership to deliver a programme of initiatives designed to help protect ecosystems, increase community engagement (around the health benefits which access to nature can bring), and support the future of the National Parks.
Efforts will initially focus on rolling-out AI-powered habitat mapping across the 15 parks, building on Vodafone’s recent network-as-a-sensor trial (which used its mobile network to provide more accurate rain nowcasting along the River Severn). This first project will provide real-time, high-resolution data on biodiversity, habitat health, and visitor impact in a fraction of a time it would normally take to produce manually.
The UK’s 15 National Parks cover c.10% of the country, attracting 90 million visitors annually. As well as providing access to nature for all (enshrined in the post-war National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act), the parks represent a vital natural resource in the current age of environmental impact awareness – 119 million tonnes of carbon are stored in National Park peatland, for example.
Further work as part of the Vodafone partnership is set to include a restoration project in Eryri National Park, and a community engagement programme in Northumberland National Park.
Nature monitoring and management is a key focus for sustainability technology projects. Data from TechMarketView’s upcoming Sustainability Technology Activity Index reports show that it’s the second most common sustainability use case area globally, with 16.5% of the activities logged worldwide in some way contributing to biodiversity tracking, ecosystem health monitoring, verification of natural resources, management and restoration of natural habitats, etc. (and over half of these – 51% - utilise AI).
Look out for the latest Sustainability Technology Activity Index reports, coming soon – with in-depth analysis of the global picture (segmented by sector, use case area, and technology) and what the activity trends are telling us in uncertain times, plus deep dives into the UK market specifically. This research is available only to subscribers of SustainabilityViews. If you are not yet a subscriber, or are unsure if your company has a subscription, please contact Belinda Tewson to find out how you can gain access.
Posted by: Craig Wentworth at 09:41
Tags:
nature monitoring
habitat
Coforge has announced that it is to sell its London-based AdvantageGo insurance software business to Sapiens UK for £43m.
The move is part of a strategic review and corporate restructuring exercise being undertaken by the fast-growing mid-tier offshore supplier to sharpen its focus on the IT Services arena. The deal, which looks like a smart play for both parties, is expected to be completed in 4-6 weeks.
Founded as Chaserock in 1990 and acquired by Coforge (the NIIT Technologies) twenty years later, AdvantageGo targets the Commercial and Specialty insurance space and has built a significant position in Lloyd’s Syndicate Market. Described by its current owners as a “stellar” business, the SaaS provider reported yoy revenue growth of almost 60% for the twelve months ended 31st March 2024 to £16.4m or c.7% of Coforge’s UK turnover for the period.
As we noted in a recent UK Insurance Sector Suppliers, Trends and Forecasts report (see here), Sapiens has become one of the leading software suppliers to the reinsurance sector in this country. The purchase of AdvantageGo is expected to enhance the acquirer’s proposition to the London Specialty Market. It will also increase the functionality of Sapien’s Insurance Platform for Property & Casualty through the integration within it of AdvantageGo’s underwriting workbench software.
Posted by: Duncan Aitchison at 09:39
Tags:
saas
software
disposal
insurance
The security of both the data to feed AI solutions, as well as the underlying models and agents themselves, is an area of increasing focus by many organisations. In response security suppliers are developing new solutions to address this area of burgeoning demand. The latest announcements come from platform leaders Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike, who have both just announced new solutions aimed at enhancing their AI security propositions.
Palo Alto Networks has unveiled Prisma AIRS, an AI security platform designed to offer protection for the entire enterprise AI ecosystem, including applications, agents, models, and data. Prisma AIRS provides several key security capabilities, including AI model scanning to detect vulnerabilities, posture management to monitor permissions and data exposures, AI red teaming to simulate attacks against AI systems, runtime security to guard against evolving threats during operation, and security for AI agents, including those built with no-code or low-code tools.
AI model scanning enables organisations to assess their AI models for vulnerabilities such as tampering, malicious scripts, and deserialization attacks. This component aims to help organisations adopt AI models safely by identifying security risks before deployment.
Palo Alto has also announced it has agreed to acquire Protect AI, a company focused on the security of artificial intelligence and machine learning applications, in a move to further bolster its suite of AI security offerings, likely feeding into Prisma AIRS.
CrowdStrike meanwhile has introduced a collection of new capabilities aimed at providing real-time data protection across cloud infrastructures, AI models, endpoints, and SaaS applications. The set of products and features are designed to address the evolving methods by which adversaries target and extract sensitive information. One of the key advances highlighted by CrowdStrike is Falcon Cloud Security's ability to inspect AI models for malware, backdoors, and other alterations before they are deployed in production environments. Security teams will receive real-time visibility into all AI workloads within the cloud, supporting proactive risk management in an area seeing rapid growth and increasing interest from threat actors.
Posted by: Simon Baxter at 09:19
The UK Government has set out its preferred approach to governing crypto-based assets in a move that also hints at an attempt to align the countries technology industry more closely with the US going forward. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, announced the changes during UK Fintech Week in London on Tuesday.
The UK’s proposed rules, outlined by the Treasury in a new policy paper, will cover crypto exchanges and brokers and provide financial services regulator the FCA with more powers to oversee digital assets. Meanwhile, Reeves has indicated that the UK will exempt overseas stablecoin issuers from any new rules, committing to closer co-operation with the US in regulating the emerging global market for digital assets.
In the US, President Donald Trump has indicated that he plans to create a more liberal regulatory environment within which digital assets can thrive with the goal of making the country “the crypto capital of the world”.
The latest draft rule changes are an amendment to the Financial Services and Markets Act of 2000 and are designed to implement regulatory boundaries that promote safe and responsible technological advancement. The proposals are in response to the burgeoning interest in crypto assets in the UK and globally. According to the FCA, UK crypto ownership rose to 12% in 2024 from just 4% in 2021.
Reeves has also revealed ongoing discussions with the US to coordinate on digital asset policy. Talks with her US counterpart, Scott Bessent during her recent visit to America apparently included proposals for a “transatlantic sandbox” for digital securities. The UK and the US plan to continue this dialogue.
The UK’s planned stablecoin regulation contrasts with the far stricter approach of the EU, which came into force in December 2024. Any company selling a stablecoin to EU investors must secure authorisation from European regulators. The US also requires “significant” stablecoins to meet tough rules on liquidity and reserves.
The latest news marks a potentially major step forward for crypto assets in the UK. The approach outlined by the UK Government appears to be in sync with the US, bringing crypto assets into the orbit of existing regulatory frameworks rather than developing specific legislation. The UK crypto sector, which has seen the majority of recent applications rejected by the FCA on AML grounds, is likely to welcome the government’s proposals and the prospect of a more liberal approach to governance.
Posted by: Jon C Davies at 09:17
Sopra Steria fell back in the first quarter of FY 2025 buffeted by “challenging market conditions”, with revenue of €1,415m representing a -4.7% decline year-on-year. The organic contraction of -4.9% came in slightly better than the forecasted range of between -5% to -6%.
The European IT services provider faced headwinds across its different regions. France, their largest market at 43% of revenue, contracted by -4.9% amid political instability and delayed public sector decisions. The UK segment experienced a more pronounced -10.8% decline, though this was anticipated due to a high comparison base and contract timing issues. The Europe reporting unit posted a -3.3% organic contraction, with Spain and Italy showing encouraging growth of 5-8%, offsetting weakness in Scandinavia, Germany and Benelux.
CEO Cyril Malargé highlighted several positive developments. The aeronautics sector has stabilised since Q4 2024, while the NS&I programme in the UK (see NS&I proves a happy hunting ground for Sopra Steria), started on at the beginning of April, should boost Q2 performance. Additionally, six major SSCL platform contracts were extended last week for £300m over three years, securing business through 2028.
Looking ahead, Sopra Steria expects the negative growth trend to ease in Q2 2025 and has confirmed its full-year targets of between -2.5% to +0.5% organic growth and an operating margin between 9.3% and 9.8%. The company continues to pursue its 2028 strategic vision of establishing itself as a European leader in consulting and digital services.
Posted by: Marc Hardwick at 09:04
Tags:
results
IT+services
Retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has been experiencing major disruptions due to a cyber attack that has affected several parts of its operations over the past week. The company suspended online orders as it worked to recover from the incident, which impacted contactless payments, Click & Collect services, and caused delivery delays. Some stores have also been left with empty food shelves, while around 200 warehouse workers were asked to stay home while the company investigates and restores services. M&S has reportedly brought in cybersecurity firms including CrowdStrike, Microsoft, and Fenix24 to help manage the incident.
According to a report by Bleeping Computer, the cyberattack has been linked to a group of threat actors known as "Scattered Spider", also referred to by other names such as Octo Tempest. The group is known for using social engineering techniques like phishing, MFA fatigue attacks, and SIM swapping to gain access to large organisations. In this case, attackers are believed to have gained access to M&S systems in February, stealing a sensitive Windows file (NTDS.dit) containing password hashes. This enabled them to move through the company’s network and eventually deploy ransomware.
Scatted Spider previously breached MGM Resorts in 2023, utilising a social engineering attack impersonating an employee when calling the company's IT help desk. In this attack, the threat actors deployed the BlackCat ransomware to encrypt more than 100 VMware ESXi hypervisors. The specific ransomware used in the attack on M&S is believed to be DragonForce, which encrypted virtual machines on M&S’s VMware servers.DragonForce itself is a newer ransomware operation that began in December 2023 and has recently started offering its tools to other cybercriminal groups as a white-labelled service.
It has been a while since we saw a ransomware attack on this scale, and one focused on locking down systems rather than data theft (and ransom to get it back), which has become more common. In the latest Cyber breaches survey, it was reported that ransomware incidents doubled over the past year (See - 2025 Cyber Security Breaches Survey: Rising ransomware and declining board responsibility), and continues to be one of the main cyber threats to organisations, often facilitated through stolen identity credentials.
Posted by: Simon Baxter at 08:37
London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has extended its multi-year relationship with Amazon Web Services (AWS), announcing the hyperscaler as its preferred cloud provider for its Markets, Risk Intelligence, and FTSE Russell divisions.
As a global market infrastructure and data provider, resilience and security sit at the heart of LSEG’s operations. Cloud is central to ensuring the delivery of its services to customers, not least around providing safe and reliable access for those in the demanding areas of trading and risk management.
LSEG is also using both AWS Outposts (a managed service for hybrid cloud environments) and Amazon Bedrock (a managed service for accessing GenAI foundation models). The latter is being used in LSEG’s Risk Intelligence division for faster and more accurate risk analysis.
For its latest financial year (FY24), AWS broke through the $100bn revenue barrier. It remains the largest hyperscaler both globally and in the UK.
Posted by: Kate Hanaghan at 09:35
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