As consumers increasingly shop, pay and gamble online, checking identities and rooting out fraud have become top priorities for banks, retailers, gambling operators and governments. Growing numbers turned to GB (GBG) in the six months to September, driving the identity specialist's adjusted operating profit up 21 per cent to £4.5m.
Chester-based GB, whose clients include Nike and Harrods, can verify the identities of more than 4bn people across 40 countries. Strong demand for that service, background checks on employees and fraud detection drove revenue up 36 per cent in the identity proofing business. Sales grew even faster in the identity solutions division, which allows clients to register, track and engage with customers.
GB signed up several major clients in the Asia Pacific region, including Chinese consumer lending giant Ping An Puhui and Malaysia's largest bank. It also inked a landmark contract with a bank that has operations in 29 countries (although it can't say which one). Management expects the UK government's roll-out of GB's CitizenSafe identity verification service in early 2016, and a similar project with Royal Mail, to underpin further growth. GB also acquired Loqate, a US-based location software group that counts IBM and Oracle among its distribution partners.
Broker finnCap expects EPS of 7.3p this financial year, rising to 9.3p in the year to March 2017 (6.8p in FY2015).
| GB (GBG) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 277p | MARKET VALUE: | £342m | |
| TOUCH: | 276-278p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 290p | LOW: 146p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 0.7% | PE RATIO: | 64 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 37p* | NET CASH: | £1.2m | |
| Half-year to 30 Sep | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 23.2 | 1.4 | 1.5 | nil |
| 2015 | 32.4 | 2.6 | 1.8 | nil |
| % change | +39 | +85 | +20 | - |
*Includes intangible assets of £51.9m, or 42p a share | ||||
