(Alliance News) - NCC Group PLC on Tuesday reported growth in sales in the 2021 financial year, and said that trend will accelerate thanks to its robust pipeline.
Revenue increased 2.6% in the financial year ended May 31, to GBP270.5 million from GBP263.7 million. Pretax profit jumped 54% to GBP14.8 million from GBP9.6 million, partly thanks to a GBP3 million saving in travel and office usage costs.
NCC is a data management and cybersecurity company based in Manchester, and a member of the FTSE 250.
Shares were down 0.2% to 313.00 pence in London on Tuesday morning.
The company declared a final dividend of 3.15p per share, bringing the full-year total to 4.65p per share. It's the sixth consecutive financial year NCC has paid out 4.65p per share.
"The board is conscious of the need to invest in initiatives to support longer-term growth and service debt profile following the recent acquisition [of Iron Mountain Inc's intellectual property management business in May]. The dividend policy will therefore continue to remain under review," NCC said.
Demand has ebbed and flowed throughout the pandemic, NCC said, depending on whether customers had restrictions imposed on them or lifted from them. Its customers spent less on cybersecurity while offices were shut down and they looked to preserve cash.
Looking ahead, NCC continues to expect higher revenue growth in financial 2022, although that will be partially offset by inflation and an increase in costs, as the company's employees return to the office and resume travelling.
Sales in the first quarter of financial 2022 were stronger than a year prior in local currency, although there was disruption in customer buying patterns. The order pipeline is robust, NCC added.
The results and guidance are unsurprising, although "anecdotal evidence around cyber budgets suggest an...upside surprise" in the second half of financial 2022 on a constant currency basis, Peel Hunt analyst Damindu Jayaweera said in a note.
Chief Executive Adam Palser said: "The connected environment continues to grow thanks to digital transformation and the rapid adoption of cloud technology - which was already underway but has been greatly accelerated by the pandemic - leaving inadequately-secured organisations ever more vulnerable to disruption, fines and, in extreme cases, failure.
"This makes our market a very exciting one, and our investment and ever-growing capabilities leave NCC Group well positioned to capture the accelerated market growth we anticipate as business activity normalises."
By Ivan Edwards; ivanedwards@alliancenews.com
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