Cyber attack epidemic sparks boom at NCC

MANCHESTER-based NCC, the global specialist in cyber security and risk mitigation, is reporting a 50% increase in revenue to £93.5m in its half year results (HY2014: £62.3m) and has entered the FTSE 250 for the first time.

Adjusted pre-tax profits also soared 24% to £14.9m (HY2014: £11.1m) for the six months to November 30 2015.

The company’s outstanding performance is being helped by an increasing numberof cyber attacks which is concerning business leaders and NCC chief executive Rob Cotton is urging them to do more.

Meanwhile, NCC’s interim dividend rose 15% to 1.50p (2014: 1.30p).

Its highlights included the acquisition of Accumuli on April 30 and its subsequent integration into the company. NCC also bought Fox-IT for £92.6m on November 27.

The company said orders and renewals were up 32%, totalling £75.7m (£57.2m in November 2014) for the current financial year.

NCC chief executive Rob Cotton told TheBusinessDesk: “We have delivered another strong set of results with Group organic revenue growth increasing by 17%.

“We are in an excellent position to continue to grow the Group organically as well as benefiting from the recent acquisitions of Accumuli and Fox-IT.
 
 “With more than 600 cyber security consultants around the world and our increasing range of capabilities, we are well positioned to meet our aspirations to become the leading player in the expanding global cyber security market.”

And he said the number of attacks on UK businesses by criminals intent on stealing data and information was on the increase saying “it’s vitally important that nation states and businesses understand that this is something which is not going to go away.

“In general boards range from being woeful to excellent at deal with this.”

Cotton’s comments come in the wake BT chief executive Gavin Patterson’s comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that his network is being forced to deal with “hundreds of thousands” of cyberattacks a day, an increase of 1,000% in more than 170 countries in the past 18 months.

Attacks on businesses such as Talk Talk, JD Wetherspoon and Ashley Madison have driven home companies’ vulnerability to cybercrime.

Patterson was not convinced, however, that company boards were up to speed with how quickly the threat was evolving.

“The risk is changing in its nature and becoming more sophisticated,” he said. “While I think there is a recognition at board level, I’m not convinced that there is a high technical understanding.”