As global commerce and communication move online, fraud and data theft are on the rise. That has spurred demand at cyber-security specialist NCC Group (NCC), driving a 22 per cent increase in operating profit to just over £24m in the year to 31 May.
The increase reflects a 13 per cent organic rise in turnover at its assurance segment, which provides cyber security and website testing. Its smaller and more mature escrow division, which securely stores critical software data for businesses, also performed robustly, with sales and operating profits up 7 and 8 per cent respectively. Moreover, NCC has totted up the value of its order books, renewals and renewal forecasts to arrive at a total of £53m in visible revenue already booked for this year.
NCC announced plans to provide a secure online environment for businesses that sign up for its newly launched domain name '.trust'. That project is the centrepiece of its new domain services division - a response to the global roll-out of domain names such as '.la' and '.market' that is helping fraudsters pose as companies. NCC expects the segment to earn £1m in revenue and sign at least 20 customers this financial year.
Broker Canaccord Genuity expects flat pre-tax profits of £25m this year, giving EPS of 9.1p, rising to £32.3m and 11.8p in 2015-16.
| NCC (NCC) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 198p | MARKET VALUE: | £412m | |
| TOUCH: | 195-199p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 234p | LOW: 124p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.8% | PE RATIO: | 23 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 38p* | NET DEBT: | 30% | |
| Year to 31 May | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 48 | 13.0 | 4.6 | 1.79 |
| 2011 | 71 | 12.8 | 4.6 | 2.17 |
| 2012 | 88 | 10.6 | 3.7 | 2.68 |
| 2013 | 99 | 18.8 | 7.0 | 3.10 |
| 2014 | 111 | 23.2 | 8.7 | 3.50 |
| % change | +11 | +24 | +24 | +13 |
Ex-div: 27 Aug Payment: 26 Sep *Includes intangible assets of £110m, or 53p a share | ||||
