Tech star’s £2bn hit

ALMOST £2bn was wiped off the value of Micro Focus after it revealed lacklustre earnings and doubts grew about its £6.5bn takeover of Hewlett Packard’s software arm.

Britain’s biggest tech company admitted revenues at HPE Software were at the bottom of expectations and those at its existing businesses had dipped 2.9pc.

The weak performance spooked investors and shares fell 17pc. Bosses insisted the merger was taking time to bed-in and the business remained in a strong position. But they announced a boardroom shake-up, putting finance chief Mike Phillips in charge of mergers and acquisitions.

For the six months to October 31, Micro Focus reported revenues of £910.4m overall and a profit of £162m.