Fujitsu pumps £280M into UK arm to keep lights on after Horizon scandal

Parent firm's cash keeps division afloat as Post Office inquiry nears final report

Fujitsu's UK business has received £280 million ($374 million) in equity from its Japanese owner in the last two years to meet ongoing funding and capital requirements.

The business has been hit by a historic scandal in the UK owing to its role in building the Horizon computer systems used by the Post Office and its branch managers for accounting and sales.

Accounts filed by the UK subsidiary Fujitsu Services Limited last week show that its Japanese owner, Fujitsu Services Holdings PLC, propped up the business with "an equity investment of £80 million... to strengthen the Company's Balance Sheet to meet its ongoing operational funding and capital requirements."

The funding comes on top of a similar £200 million ($267 million) payment made last year "to restore net equity and reduce debt."

In the financial year ending March 2025, Fujitsu Services Limited said revenue was down 9.2 percent to £1.06 billion ($1.41 billion).

The Post Office began rolling out the legacy Horizon IT system for accounting in 1999, along with two subsequent upgrades. The EPOS and back-end finance system was first implemented by ICL, a UK tech firm majority-owned by Fujitsu in the 1990s and fully acquired in 1998. From 1999 until 2015, around 736 subpostmasters were wrongfully prosecuted and convicted over Horizon errors, devastating lives in the process.

A statutory inquiry into the mass miscarriage of justice launched in 2021 is ongoing. Its first report was published in July, finding that senior Post Office staff in the UK – and those working for suppliers Fujitsu and ICL – knew or should have known about the defects causing errors in the Horizon system. It also found that 13 lives were lost through suicide, most likely as a result of the Post Office prosecutions, in which Fujitsu assisted.

Despite an ongoing outcry, Fujitsu is yet to contribute to the government's compensation scheme for victims of the Horizon scandal. It was set to respond to the Public Inquiry on Friday.

A Fujitsu spokesperson said: "We have apologised for, and deeply regret, our role in subpostmasters' suffering. Our partnership with the [independent] Restorative Justice Council, announced last month in response to the Inquiry's recommendation, reflects our commitment to building a restorative justice framework that supports those impacted but is also shaped by them.

"We remain committed to providing our full cooperation to the Inquiry [as it prepares its] final report and we are engaged with Government regarding Fujitsu's contribution to compensation."

In its financial statement, Fujitsu Services Limited said: "The extent of reputational and financial risk will not be known until the Inquiry has concluded and published its findings in full. Based on these findings, the Company expects to take appropriate and proportionate measures to engage with the UK Government with respect to a contribution towards the UK Government's compensation schemes. Loss of future new business due to reputational damage arising from the Horizon inquiry remains a key risk to the Company's business plans. Until the inquiry concludes, management have taken the decision to pause bidding activity on new government contracts. The Company is continuing to support the Inquiry process until its conclusion."

In January 2024, head of UK and Europe Paul Patterson confirmed to the government that Fujitsu would only continue bidding in "re-procurement exercises by existing government customers" and in agreeing to the extension of existing contracts.

However, in April 2025, Fujitsu won a £125 million ($167 million) contract to build Northern Ireland's new land registry system and replace a standalone legacy system. Bidding for this work was ongoing while Patterson made his commitment.

Research from government spending analyst Tussell has found that Fujitsu has been awarded around £510 million ($682 million) in UK public sector contracts since a TV dramatization of the Horizon Post Office scandal – including a recent £220 million ($294 million) deal with the UK tax collector HMRC, awarded without competition. ®