What is AI slop and why should investors care?

Sometimes it is worth taking a step back. That way, it is possible to gain perspectives that are not necessarily clear when you are down in the weeds. But the process of stepping back does not always lead to the same viewpoint. This thematic piece takes some fairly basic questions about the role of advertising and the transformation of the advertising market and appraises them from different standpoints: the agency, the publisher, the platform and the brand. We have done this in the form of short video interviews with relevant individuals from some of the key quoted companies in the sector. As might be expected, there is plenty of commonality in responses, and the divergencies of opinion mostly reflect the perspectives, rather than anything more fundamental, but are interesting, nonetheless. As the landscape shifts further and faster, investors need to keep asking whether the ecosystem is fit for purpose and check in on what that purpose is.

In this interview, Gamma Communications’ leadership team discuss the company’s strategic direction, financial profile and technology roadmap.

CEO Andrew Belshaw outlines the company’s evolution from a UK-focused telecoms provider to a leading European cloud communications business. He explains how Gamma’s partner-led model, scalable platforms and strong customer service enable the company to serve both SMEs and large enterprises, and discusses the importance of Gamma’s German business to the company’s growth strategy. CFO Bill Castell discusses Gamma’s financial profile, highlighting its low capital intensity, high recurring revenues (89%) and strong cash conversion (90%+). He also explains the strategic rationale behind the company’s move to the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market, positioning it for future growth and larger acquisitions. CTO Colin Lees outlines Gamma’s R&D priorities, including portal consolidation, infrastructure integration and evolving proprietary and third-party products. He emphasises the importance of maintaining high voice quality and local data compliance, especially in Germany.

Gamma Communications is a provider of unified communications as a service (UCaaS) into the UK, Dutch, Spanish and German business markets, supplying communication solutions via channel partners and also directly.

Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), a UK-based company, is pioneering sustainable aircraft technologies (see our equity proposition). To date, HAV has raised and invested c £140m in developing its landmark aircraft, Airlander 10, which combines lighter-than-air technology (helium) and an innovative wing design, overcoming traditional airship limitations. The Airlander 10 can deliver 100+ seat regional passenger transport, a 10-tonne payload of freight transportation, or a combination of the two. HAV’s Airlander technology is scalable and its next product, Airlander 50, can transport 50+ tonnes, despite being only slightly longer (120m) than Airlander 10 (98m). HAV has a total order book of c $2bn (29 aircraft) as well as a qualified pipeline of c $7bn, with a 50/50 split between civil and military uses. The company aims to raise an additional c £600m to build its production site (land is secured in South Yorkshire) and achieve its production target of 24 aircraft annually, with first customer deliveries scheduled for 2029.

VolitionRx (NYSE American: VNRX) is a multinational epigenetics company that applies its Nucleosomics platform through its subsidiaries to develop simple, easy-to-use, cost-effective blood tests to help diagnose and monitor a range of life-altering diseases.

Incannex Healthcare is planning to move all its stock to Nasdaq. It is seeking access to a bigger capital market, greater visibility globally and more liquidity, ultimately leading to what it hopes will be higher returns for shareholders. This is what we know of its plans so far…

Nasdaq-listed AGBA Group is a one-stop financial services company that offers over 1,800 health and wealth products through its proprietary platform, ‘OnePlatform’. Through OnePlatform, AGBA provides financial services to, and enhances the operational efficiency of, advisers, brokers and financial institutions.