City round-up: SysGroup; Northcoders

SysGroup, the Liverpool-based Cloud hosting provider, said it is seeing the “first green shoots of recovery” in customer spending, in a trading update for the year to March 31, 2022, today.

It said, despite the external challenges faced throughout its industry over the past two years, it expects to report adjusted EBITDA of £2.8m, which is in line with market expectations.

This is despite the expected decline in revenue compared with the prior period, as customers continued to defer spending on enhanced IT projects.

SysGroup said the adjusted EBITDA performance reflects the underlying strength of its business with strong operational management and the full year benefit of acquisition synergies, supported further by the quality of its managed services revenues and sustainable margins.

It said it is also pleasing to note that the group has maintained its track record of solid cash generation, ending the financial year with £3m of net cash, which is ahead of market expectation.

Encouragingly, during the latter part of the second half of fiscal year 2022, it said it has started to see enhanced trading conditions with both new and existing clients. While not yet at pre-pandemic levels, customers are once again starting to feel confident to commit to spending on enhancements to their essential IT services.

Coupled with the acquisition of Truststream, which has added further capabilities to the group’s managed security service offering, SysGroup said it is well positioned to deepen it existing client relationships and is looking forward to the future.

Chief executive, Adam Binks, said: “This is a very robust performance given the headwinds faced for a prolonged period of time. Our business has proved to be resilient which reflects both the quality of our offering and the core nature of the services that we provide.

“The strong EBITDA performance and cash generation demonstrate the operational strength and financial discipline of the group and investments in prior periods mean that we are ready to scale as conditions improve.

“We will do so both organically and through further earnings enhancing M&A, as evidenced by the post year end acquisition of Truststream Security Solutions.”

He added: “We have started to see the first green shoots of recovery in customer spending and look forward to the future with confidence.”

SysGroup expects to publish its full year results for the period ended March 31, 2022 on June 20.

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Chris Hill, Northcoders

Manchester-based Northcoders, a provider of training programmes for software coding, is to open a new training hub in Birmingham city centre that will deliver the company’s range of bootcamp courses across the Midlands.

The new site, which will open on May 3, will be in Spaces at The Mailbox on Commercial Street and will have dedicated office space. Staff and students will also have access to the available expansive co-working areas.

Three jobs have initially been created, with more scheduled as operations ramp up.

The launch is as a result of the recent increase in demand for technology training and upskilling in the region. The centre will enable the flexibility of hybrid teaching both online and in person, with access available immediately.

Founded in 2015, Northcoder also operates hubs in Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.

Northcoders’ coding school offers bootcamp courses to consumers from a range of backgrounds, delivered through virtual and physical learning.

It also works with blue chip corporates across multiple sectors, and is a registered provider of government-backed apprenticeships in the field.

Since its inaugural course in 2015, Northcoders has helped more than 1,000 people switch careers into tech, with average starting salaries of £25,500. It floated on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market in July 2021.

Chief executive, Chris Hill, said: “Birmingham and the wider Midlands region has a strong tech scene so this was the next natural step in our growth following the opening of our sites in Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.

“The demand for digital skills and upskilling is only going to increase over the next few years so the focus for us will be on ensuring that our Birmingham hub delivers the education and technology training that will help businesses, individuals and the region’s economy to thrive.”