Malar Velaigam
Investors Chronicle With cyber crime dominating headlines, cyber security specialists NCC has delivered an impressive performance. Forward orders grew by a third in the half-year period to £41m and chief executive Rob Cotton reckons that there's "a lot more interest" in NCC's products.
Reflecting those prospects, NCC made two acquisitions in 2010 - SDLC in April, and iSEC in October. These have bulked up the security testing assurance business and it's likely that more deals are likely going forward, too. But, even after excluding those deals, assurance division revenue still grew 9 per cent to £12.3m and the division's testing order book grew 79 per cent.
Meanwhile, organic sales at NCC's Escrow business grew 10 per cent to £11.9m. Operating margins there also continued to improve, rising to 55.9 per cent from 55.2 per cent a year ago. Mr Cotton says NCC pushed through a 5 per cent price increase in November and that another price hike will be passed on before the year end.
Broker Peel Hunt expects full-year adjusted pre-tax profit of £17.1m, giving adjusted EPS of 34.7p (from £14/5m and 30.8p in 2010).