ChatGPT is the hot topic around the world. It's therefore no surprise investors are now wondering whether generative AI (artificial intelligence) is the next big thing in technology, and if so, which companies are best positioned to ride it.After years of research, it appears AI is reaching a tipping point, capturing the imaginations of everyone from students saving time on their essay writing...

- Marketing firm has shown robust growth of late- Acquisitions likely to be on the agenda this year- Safestore C-suite pair lock away more stockQuick out of the blocks is how you might describe Tim Dyson, the chief executive of billion-pound marketing and PR firm Next Fifteen Communications (NFC:AIM). Just four months ago shares in the London-based company were trading at 755p, before an end...

- Multi-year deal worth $19 million over three years- CEO hails Liberty automated engagement platform- Canaccord ups 2023 forecasts by 17% to 23%Analysts have hiked profits and revenue forecasts for call centre technology supplier Netcall (NET:AIM) after the Bedford-based company hooked a multi-year contract with an S&P 500 international financial services big fish to use its Liberty automated...

The 5 April deadline for people to use up this year's £20,000 ISA allowance is fast approaching. To help investors who are looking for last-minute ideas, we've scanned the market for good opportunities that can be added to ISA portfolios. The beauty of ISAs is that any capital gains and dividends from investments inside the account will be tax-free.Investors will struggle to get even 1% from...

Nothing stays the same forever and the best companies are those which are flexible and innovative enough to adapt.Without this capacity they risk becoming obsolete and are likely to face a steady decline in profit and cash flow until they eventually go bust or the remaining viable bits of the business are broken up and sold.The guiding motto of Andrew Grove, the man behind the rise of US micro...

The FTSE 100 opens down 14.18 points to 7287.11 as North Korea and US tensions continue to weigh on investor sentiment.Roadside assistance giant AA (AA.) loses 2.1% to 164.2p with its results for the first six months to 31 July in line with expectations. Despite growing its operating profits by 35% to 178m, the company's interim dividend remained flat at 3.6p on a year-on-year basis.Irn-Bru...

Contact centre software supplier Netcall (NET:AIM) is launching into the applications development space with the £13.4m purchase of UK-based MatsSoft.The target provides visual design tools that mean new applications can be implemented with a minimum of hard coding and upfront investment. MatsSoft last year grew its revenue by 22% to £5.5m.

Having hit the streets in its home US market on 16 October 2014 Apple Pay is finally heading to Britain. Reports suggest we could get the technology as soon as 14 July, although the date hadn't been confirmed as Shares goes to press. General consensus is that the mobile payments service from the world's biggest technology company Apple (AAPL:NDQ) will begin to transform the way iPhone, iPad...

Word that Eckoh (ECK:AIM) is walking away from a potential £88 million takeover of rival Netcall (NET:AIM) is a blow. The cash and shares deal, mainly shares, was revealed on 25 June, so it has taken just eight days of talks for the holes in the plan to be revealed.It's a real shame, tying these two similar businesses together makes sense in many ways. Both have calved leading positions...

London shares are again on the up in early trade Friday, but only just, as investors hold on to their seats ahead of this weekend's crucial Greece referendum on European bailout proposals. The benchmark FTSE 100 index nudges 10 points, or about 0.15%, at 6,620, with Vodafone (VOD) and Standard Chartered (STAN) heading the Footsie leader board early on, posting 1.8% and 2% increases...

By 2025, three quarter of Americans will be 'millennials', born since 2000. They won't be able to contemplate a life without a smartphone or whichever device-a-la-mode we will be using by then. Times change, and generic investment pillars of wisdom perhaps need fine-tuning into the modern pillars of technology investment.In 2015, they broadly fall into four concepts: social, mobility,...

Latham (James) (LTHM:AIM) 577.5pSheet and hardwood supplier Latham has been consistently profitable for the past 10 years, more than doubling operating profit in the same period. The Hemel Hempstead-based company is expected to grow earnings per share 19% to 39.5p this year.Leaf Clean Energy (LEAF:AIM) 34pRenewable energy investor Leaf Clean is a closed-end fund in run-off. At a meeting in...

Results > FINALS > 27 November - Netcall (NET:AIM) 57pInvestors will be hoping for a fast start to the current year to end June 2015 to justify Netcall's (NET:AIM) hefty price to earnings (PE) multiple of around 20 based on the latest shares price of 57p. That should make next week's (27 Nov) trading update worth looking out for. When the calls systems supplier reported full-year results on 23...

Emerging markets fund manager Ashmore (ASHM) dives 8.7% to 310.4p after unfavourable foreign exchange rates leave half-year earningsbelow consensus forecasts. Emerging markets turbulence has continued into 2014.With group operating profit falling by a third in 2013 and no growth in the dividend, investors' patience is really being testedin Ladbrokes (LAD). Yet the shares rise 2.4% to 154.6p...

Mother and baby specialist Mothercare (MTC) nurtures a 2.6% gain to 425p as interim figures meet expectations and there's an encouraging strategic update on its loss-making UK business. The £365 million cap reports a return to half-year profit, swinging from £1.8 million losses to £2 million of underlying taxable profits for the six months to 12 October, although UK like-for-like sales...

Many commentators continue to harp on about the impact the internet and competition from new business models, such as that of Amazon.com (AMZN:NDQ), had upon HMV before its plunge into administration (15 Jan). What very few, if any, note is the corrosive effect of the firm's net debt, some £176.1 million as of last October. Those liabilities eventually choked off the retailer's prospects and...