North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) has approved the write-off of £589,959.61 in unpaid business rates and council tax, citing the debts as irrecoverable. The decision, made by the council’s executive panel, covers nine accounts linked to businesses that have gone into administration, liquidation, or been dissolved.

The largest single debt, £233,300.13, was from a business that entered liquidation. Confidential council documents indicate further recovery efforts would not be cost-effective.

Claire Edwards, NNC’s Executive Director of Finance, stated that while the council aims to maximise revenue collection, some debts must be written off when recovery is no longer feasible. The Conservative-led administration approved the measure at its latest committee meeting.

Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB), a mortgage network and broker, “achieved strong financial growth in 2024,“ as revenue and profit rose.

According to the Derby firm’s final results for the year ended 31 December 2024, revenue reached £266.5m – up 11.3% from £239.5m in 2023.

Adjusted profit before tax, meanwhile, was up 38% to £32m, from £23.2m in 2023.

The business also saw gross mortgage completions grow 3.9% to £26.1bn.

Peter Brodnicki, founder and Chief Executive, said: “MAB achieved strong financial growth in 2024 and, by doing so, maintained its long track record of outperformance and market share growth in all market conditions.

“Strategic spend on technology and digital marketing continued to increase, supporting our plans to deliver a higher level of sustainable growth and futureproof our operations. Aligning our business model to evolving customer preferences for research, advice and seamless transactions will enable advisers to access more potential customers and retain an increasing number of existing ones.

“In February, we hosted a Capital Markets Day, during which my team and I set out MAB’s vision to become our customers’ leading financial partner through life’s key moments and demonstrated the significant progress we have made in adapting and evolving our business model to achieve a far wider consumer reach, drive greater lead flows, and increase productivity, efficiency, and margins. 

“MAB has been listed on AIM for just over a decade. During that time, we have built a market-leading, specialist network for mortgage advisers while returning over £125m in dividends to shareholders – greater than our market capitalisation at IPO. The Board is now evaluating the potential transition to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, which should provide access to a broader investor base and further enhance the Group’s market profile. 

“2025 has begun strongly and in line with expectations, with many AR firms anticipating growth in adviser numbers this year while maintaining a focus on increasing profitability through higher productivity. We also have the opportunity to scale our invested businesses and build upon the impressive adviser productivity levels they are already achieving to deliver strong and sustainable shareholder returns over the long term.”

Yü Group, the independent supplier of gas and electricity, and meter asset owner and installer of smart meters, to the UK corporate sector, has seen revenue and profit rise in its final audited results for the year to 31 December 2024.

Revenue reached £645.5m, up from £460m in 2023, as a result of strong organic growth in delivered volume of energy. Profit before tax, meanwhile, increased to £44.5m, from £39.7m.

Bobby Kalar, Chief Executive Officer, said: “The team and I continue to focus on delivering our strategy, which has delivered another new set of record results, with further strong growth in revenue, profit and cash terms.

“I’m particularly pleased that this is our 6^th year of profit growth, and we have taken revenue from £81m in 2018 to £646m in 2024. This growth is set to continue, although at a slower pace in percentage terms due to the larger base.

“Our disciplined approach to growth and the focus on our core target market remains, and our smart metering business is starting to bear considerable fruits.

“Whilst softened commodity markets provide a lower revenue per customer, our 78% growth in delivered energy volume demonstrates the opportunity being taken. We continue to grow market share, nearly doubling year-on-year to 2.7%, and we have a huge addressable market available and are set-up to scale.

“Our smart metering business continues to perform well. I’m really pleased and proud that from standstill in 2023 we now have a fully functioning engineering capability across the Country, with our own training centre and a highly skilled and driven management team. I’m very much looking forward to guiding this business as it develops further.

“We are again increasing our dividend payment, which has increased by 50% in year, reflecting our progressive dividend policy and confidence in the future with over £1 billion of forward revenue already contracted.

“On behalf of my hard-working colleagues and my fellow shareholders, I remain disappointed by the disconnect between our business performance and our market rating. Notwithstanding this, we remain focused on the continued growth of our business.

“I am privileged to lead such a fantastic team and would like to thank them for helping to deliver such fantastic results! My team is stronger than ever, and I remain committed to ensuring we provide the environment for them to develop their careers alongside the Group’s continued development.”

The business has made a strong start to 2025, with new record monthly revenue achieved in January.

Light Science Technologies Holdings plc, which operates through its AgTech, contract electronics manufacturing, and passive fire protection divisions, has reported record revenues in audited results for the year ended 30 November 2024.

The Derbyshire-based business hailed strong trading across all divisions, with the performance underpinned by increasing high margin contributions from the company’s AgTech and passive fire protection divisions.

Revenue at the firm reached £12.04m, up 29.5% on the prior year (£9.30m). Meanwhile, Light Science Technologies reduced its losses with a loss before tax of £30,000 (loss of £1.14m in 2023). This was helped by a strong second half of the year, which saw pre-tax profits of £300,000.

Simon Deacon, CEO, said: “I am delighted with the strong performance during the period. We have established a portfolio of businesses with a demonstratable track record targeting a diverse and growing range of end markets. Importantly, we are generating significantly increasing levels of revenue, growing Group margins and are delivering increasing levels of cash generation as we move towards our goal of achieving sustained profitability.

“We have further developed our product suite and routes to market and are extremely excited by the opportunity afforded to us across the business. The combination of global pressures and trends as well as legislation all point to an increasingly healthy orderbook and pipeline conversion, as we build on the record period we are reporting on today.”