Another year of growth for NCC Group

IT security firm NCC has reported another year of sales and earnings growth.

The Manchester-based business, which specialises in helping firms protect against IT failure and cyber crime, saw revenues climb 12% to £110.7m in the year to the end of May.

Pre-tax profits jumped 24% to £23.2m at the business which has upped the dividend by 13% to 3.5p and seen strong trading since the year end.

NCC provides software insurance services in its escrow arm where it allows companies to protect against the collapse of a software developer by holding vital information, such as the software source codes. It also operates an assurance business which protects IT systems from hackers and has just launched its domain services arm to offer new services through its recently acquired “top level” domain, .trust.

With .trust, NCC Group plans to create what it describes as an online secure gated community, “that will provide a safer and more trustworthy Internet for both businesses and consumers”.

In early May NCC bought the Danish security testing firm FortConsult for £4m but said its performance had been driven by organic growth. Escrow revenues were up 7% and assurance by 13%.

Chief executive Rob Cotton said: “Our established divisions have produced another strong year of growth, with sales and profit showing double digit growth. We are also now poised to expand on these strong foundations with the newly launched domain services division.

“The information security and cyber security markets are evolving continuously and growing at an unstoppable pace. All three of our divisions have strong market positions and a widening range of new products and services to address these growing opportunities. Taking into account all our renewals, order books and renewal forecasts, we have forward visibility of some £53m of revenues at this very early stage of the year.  We have started the year strongly – in line with the board’s expectations – and with this forward visibility are well-placed to deliver sustained long term growth.”

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