Fintel plc has disposed of Gateway Surveying Services and APS Legal & Associates to Kairos Professional Services Limited for aggregate cash consideration of up to £1m, in a move the AIM-listed group said would simplify its portfolio and sharpen its focus on higher-margin operations.

The buyer is controlled by Neil Stevens, the former joint chief executive of Fintel, who resigned from the company on 22 May 2025. Stevens was also a former director of both businesses and had previously overseen their operations.

For property professionals, the more notable part of the transaction is the sale of Gateway Surveying Services, which provides property valuation services to mainstream UK lenders. In the 12 months to 31 December 2025, Gateway generated about £9.7m in revenue and around £0.8m in EBITDA.

APS, which provides will-writing and probate services through a network of associates, generated £1.5m in revenue and £0.1m in EBITDA over the same period.

STRATEGIC RATIONALE

Fintel said the two businesses were no longer core to its strategy, which is increasingly centred on software, data-led services and recurring revenues. Together, Gateway and APS produced £11.2m in revenue and £0.9m in EBITDA in 2025, equating to a margin of about 8%.

That compares with Fintel’s current group adjusted EBITDA margin of 30%, underlining why the board now sees them as a weaker fit within the wider business.

The company also highlighted the operational advantages of structuring the transaction as a legal entity sale rather than a trade and asset sale. It said the disposal removes the need to continue insuring, or insuring on a run-off basis, around 500,000 previously completed property valuations.

Fintel also said the move removes custody risk linked to about £11m of client money currently in probate and cuts the group’s total workforce by about 16%, reducing fixed costs and simplifying the operating structure.

For a business seeking to present itself as a more focused technology and distribution platform serving the UK retail financial services market, the disposal is as much about removing complexity and legacy exposure as it is about raising cash.

DEAL STRUCTURE

The consideration comprises £0.6m in fixed cash proceeds, with a further estimated £0.4m payable if Gateway meets certain profitability targets during its first two years under new ownership.

Fintel has also secured an anti-embarrassment provision, under which it will share in any uplift in value if Gateway or APS is sold on within three years of completion.

Because the purchaser is a related party under AIM rules, the deal required additional scrutiny. Fintel said its directors, having consulted nominated adviser Cavendish Capital Markets Limited, considered the terms fair and reasonable so far as shareholders are concerned.

Matt Timmins, chief executive of Fintel plc, said: “We are pleased to have completed this disposal, which represents an important step in the strategic portfolio simplification of Fintel, enabling us to focus on our two divisional growth engines of Software & Data and Services.

“The disposal also reduces complexity in the Group, removes significant operational risks, whilst supporting improved capital allocation, and enabling focused investment in higher growth, higher margin areas of the Group.”