Shares drop as Octavius Black steps down as CEO of Mind Gym
Shares fall as company takes a cautious view on revenue growth
April 23, 2025, 4:16 PM GMT
Octavius Black, MindGym CEO - at the Science Summit 2023
Image Courtesy: ©Reuters - Alan Davidson / Silverhub / Shutterstock
Mind Gym, the behavioural science firm co-founded by David Cameron’s Eton schoolmate Octavius Black, received millions from it's flotation back in 2018
The company, founded in 2000 with the psychologist Sebastian Bailey, was floated on Aim at 146p a share, valuing the business at £145m.
Black and the company’s chair, Joanne Black, who are married, will make £24m between them, while Bailey will cash in £22m. The three will retain a 64.6% stake.
Black said: “When we started out 18 years ago at my kitchen table, [behavioural science] was readily dismissed; now, the way businesses use behavioural science determines their success.
“Mind Gym’s IPO [initial public offering] will raise our profile and help us lead the development of psychological tools to make companies more diverse, ethical, agile, productive, innovative, healthy and profitable.”
The company, whose profits rose from £4.8m to £7.8m over the past 12 months, has worked with 62% of FTSE 100 and 59% of S&P 100 companies, including groups such as Unilever, GlaxoSmithKline and Microsoft. It specialises in business transformation, managing employees, and learning and development.
The company employs over 200 coaches who present its products to clients’ staff in 90-minute training sessions. These coaches have to show relevant experience to to apply, prior to passing an assessment test to become certificated after a five-day training program.
Mind Gym’s growth over the previous five years was driven by a strong performance in the UK and a successful launch in the US. Its next big move is to raise its profile in northern Europe. In the run-up to the flotation, the company appointed former TalkTalk chief executive, Dido Harding, as a non-executive director
Now fast forward to 2024, Mind Gym PLC noted continued macroeconomic uncertainty and unpredictability, as it reported a narrowed annual loss.
The London-based personal and business coaching service said pretax loss narrowed to GBP6.2 million in the financial year ended March 31, from GBP12.1 million a year prior.
It swung to adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of GBP1.9 million, from a loss of GBP300,000 in financial 2024.
Revenue fell 14% to GBP38.6 million from GBP44.9 million.
Noting macroeconomic uncertainty and unpredictability, Mind Gym started taking a more cautious view on expected revenue growth, now anticipating to deliver modest underlying revenue growth in financial 2026.
Looking ahead, Chief Executive Officer Christoffer Ellehuus said: "We have made good progress in year one of our three-year transformation strategy to transition from episodic training provider to become the preferred behaviour change partner of our customers. Despite a challenging year and market headwinds, we delivered a return to adjusted Ebitda profitability, whilst laying strong foundations, remaining laser-focused on execution, and making significant strides towards our longer-term goal of returning to growth."
As Mind Gym shares fell 5.9% to 16.00 pence Octavius Black made the decision to step down from the position of CEO and transition to the position of the Executive Chairman of the board
Upon query, Black replied: "We are excited about the road ahead. With our strong foundations, differentiated capabilities, and a growing demand for accountability in talent investments, Mind Gym's proposition is well placed for the future of people development. I want to extend my sincere thanks to our clients for their partnership, our exceptional team for their commitment, and our shareholders for their continued support for Mind Gym PLC."
Further, he added: "We believe there is a significant and growing opportunity for organisations to rethink how they deliver talent development. Just as functions like marketing have evolved by becoming more data-driven, so too will human resources and, in particular, the talent market in which Mind Gym operates."
For the company profile details see - source²