GB reports steady first quarter

IDENTITY management and marketing company GB Group has seen its first quarter performance fall marginally behind last year, with revenues of £5m.

The Chester-based IT business provides its customers, which include utility groups, transport companies and financial groups, with information on who their customers are and how they behave as consumers.

It also provides an identity verification service geared at tackling ID fraud, money laundering and under-age gambling.

It said that demand for its services was affected by the level of consumer activity in the economy and that like-for-like demand had been lower in the early months of this year compared to last year.

For the three months to the end of June, group revenues were £5m (2008: £5.7m). Taking a one-off settlement of £400,000 paid for licence arrears last year, underlying revenues were £300,000 lower than the same period last year.

Group pre-tax profit stood at £135,000, with an improved cash balance of £5.3m.

Chief executive Richard Law said: “The business has continued to be profitable and cash generative and GB’s balance sheet has strengthened accordingly.

“We believe that identity management is a fundamental enabler of online business and, accordingly, this represents an exceptional opportunity for the group. We remain confident that the ability to prove age and identity electronically and subsequently to manage customers effectively over the internet is a prerequisite for every online business, and that GB is well placed to address this market.”

The company’s last set of fill year results saw pre-tax profits leap to £1.4m to March from a £438,000 loss. Turnover grew 22% to £23.7m.