NCC Group is a global information assurance specialist providing organisations worldwide with expert escrow, verification, security consulting, website performance, software testing and domain services.

Through an unrivalled range of services, we provide organisations across the world with freedom from doubt that their most important assets are protected and operating as they should be at all times.

We are passionate about changing the shape of the internet and making it a safer place to be.

As the cyber arms race and technology revolution continue to outpace the ability of organisations to cope with the plethora of security, performance and availability issues, we are best placed to help organisations to manage the risk and limit the threat.

With our knowledge, experience, capability and global footprint we are committed to ensuring that organisations have access to a total information assurance solution that works for them.

Our complementary service areas provide comprehensive end-to-end information assurance for over 15,000 organisations worldwide.

We have 18 locations across the UK, Europe, North America and Australia



https://www.nccgroup.com/en/?gclid=CLvhvrjdz8MCFUbMtAodIg8AfA

21 Jan Canaccord... 350.00 Buy

Trading update

RNS


RNS Number : 5761W

NCC Group PLC

28 April 2016




28 April 2016



NCC Group



Trading update



NCC Group plc (LSE: NCC or "the Group"), the independent global cyber security and risk mitigation expert, is today publishing a trading update, covering the 10 months from 1 June 2015 to 31 March 2016.



Group revenues are 60% ahead of last year at £166.1m (March 2015: £104.1m). Organic growth has been 21% (March 2015: 14%).



As expected the Group's net debt decreased, following the £126.3m fundraising, which partially financed the acquisition of Fox-IT in November 2015, to £18.5m (March 2015: £37.5m) against a total debt facility of £115m.



Rob Cotton, Group Chief Executive, comments:



"This has been another period of strong and controlled revenue and profitable growth, organically and by acquisition. We have also comprehensively expanded our product portfolio and geographic reach as we continue on our path to become the largest global, services led, cyber security business.



"The opportunities we are seeing from Fox-IT, which has been part of the Group for five months and the fully integrated Accumuli business, acquired in May last year, are very exciting. We plan to start the global roll out of some of Fox-IT's products and services during the next financial year.



"We are firmly on course to meet our expectations for the current financial year. We remain confident that we will be able to maintain our double digit organic growth, supplemented by suitable acquisitions, as we are exceptionally well positioned to take advantage of the growing services led markets in which we operate."



The Escrow Division continued to perform strongly. Revenue grew by 8% (March 2015: 6%) and renewals are now forecast to be £19.3m for the current financial year (April 2015*: £18.4m).



The global verification order book continues to be solid throughout the business and now stands at £4.0m (April 2015: £3.0m).



Group Escrow termination rates continue to be unchanged at about 11% for contract.



In the UK, the cornerstone of NCC Group Escrow, has seen revenue growth in line with expectations at 6% (March 2015: 4%). In North America revenue grew by 17% (March 2015: 9%) and in mainland Europe by 7% (March 2015: declined 3%).



The Assurance Division continues to deliver strong growth with a 74% increase in revenue (March 2015: 18%), 24% on an organic basis.



The number of security consultants continues to grow but as importantly, the Group's retention rate continues to be close to 90%.



The Group is seeing the benefits of the acquisition of Accumuli, which will be rebranded to NCC Group from 31 May 2016, as all parts of that business are now embedded in the Assurance division.



Fox-IT has performed in line with NCC Group's expectations and the addition of this business has widened and diversified the Group's products and services. The Group plans to capitalise on opportunities to deliver additional capabilities to Fox-IT customers locally, whilst rolling out Fox-IT's services and products to other parts of Europe and North America.



NCC Group continues to see Fox-IT as an exciting prospect that will complement the other cyber security offerings that are already delivered to the Group's global client base.



The Assurance Division's overall combined order book and renewals base currently stands at £73.6m (April 2015: £36.3m). The contracted renewals base, which covers load and performance testing, Fox-IT and Accumuli managed services is £22.5m for the year ended 31 May 2016 (April 2015: £6.8m which covered load and performance only).



The Domain Services Division provides an end-to-end solution for all of an organisation's domain requirements. It provides a secure security solution to those brands and organisations looking to exploit the opportunity for more secure communications with their customer base.



Despite this capability, the Division continues to operate in a challenging market where ICANN delays, poor consumer understanding and lower than expected demand for domains have continued to prevail.



The widely anticipated next TLD application process still has not been confirmed but it is positive that ICANN are guiding it towards high value applications. However, the lack of a firm date, compounded by the failure to complete the delegation process for the first round of applications continues to hamper all parties.



Despite this, revenues increased by 127% to £6.0m (March 2015: £2.6m) and losses will not exceed £1.7m in the current financial year.



The Division is expected to break even in the next financial year. However, given the continuing market backdrop, the Board plans to implement a strategic review if this proves unachievable.



The Group expects to report its full year results for the 12 months to 31 May 2016 on Thursday, 7 July 2016.



* The revenue comparison figures are for the 10 months to 31 March 2015 whilst the order book and renewals comparisons are those recorded at 30 April 2015. The Group trading update last year was published on 5 May 2015.

Broker Forecast - Jefferies International issues a broker note on NCC Group PLC

Jefferies International today initiates coverage of NCC Group PLC (LON:NCC) with a buy investment rating and price target of 320p. Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Final Results

RNS


RNS Number : 4755D

NCC Group PLC

07 July 2016




7 July 2016



NCC Group plc



Continued rapid growth of international cyber security drives profits up 48%



NCC Group plc (LSE: NCC or "the Group"), the independent global cyber security and risk mitigation expert, has reported its full year results for the 12 months to 31 May 2016.



Highlights

§ Group revenue up 56% to £209.1m (2015: £133.7m), organic growth 19%

§ Group EBITDA* up 48% to £43.7m (2015: £29.5m) before £18.9m exceptional charge

§ Group adjusted operating profit* up 46% to £38.4m (2015: £26.4m)

o Assurance operating profit up 52% to £25.8m (2015: £17.0m)

o Escrow operating profit up 6% to £20.1m (2015: £18.9m)

§ Group adjusted profit before tax* up 45% (2015: 1%) to £37.0m (2015: £25.5m)

§ Adjusted fully diluted earnings per share up 19% to 11.2p (2015: 9.4p)

§ Total dividend up 17% to 4.65p (2015: 3.98p) - since July 2004 flotation, dividend increased from 0.42p to 4.65p, CAGR of 25%



Operational

§ Fox-IT integration on track - global roll out of services expected to start during current financial year

§ Accumuli fully integrated - focus on substantial cyber security market opportunities

§ Strongest Escrow revenue growth in 10 years

§ Withdrawal from Domain Services but domain security capability retained

o Open Registry to be realised and other assets written down

o Exceptional charge of £13.7m, including £0.9m cash cost

§ Employees increased by 40% to 1,857 worldwide (2015: 1,388)

§ First PLC to form Cyber Security Committee - on a par with Audit and Remuneration Committees



Outlook for 2016/2017

§ Group's forecast contracted recurring revenue and current order book up 67% to £104.6m (2015: £62.7m)

o Group contracted recurring revenues are £48.5m



* All Group adjusted figures exclude the amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional charges, share-based charges and unwinding of discount on deferred consideration.



Rob Cotton, Group Chief Executive, comments:



"This has been a year of notable progress for the business. We fully integrated Accumuli, considerably expanded our capabilities with the acquisition of Fox-IT and delivered a significant increase in earnings, up 19% - and increased dividends by 17%, a 12 year CAGR of 25%.



"The threat intelligence capabilities that Fox-IT brings to the Group are proving to be a key point of differentiation. We look forward with increasing confidence as we roll out its services to customers across the Group.



"The threat of being hacked or having valuable data stolen continues to grow at a seemingly unstoppable pace. With our global reach and increased product range, we remain tightly focused on exploiting the opportunities to deliver sustained long term growth.



"The cybercrime arms race is the single biggest threat to corporates and individuals globally particularly as cybercrime is not bound by national borders or political and trade treaties.



"Regardless of when or how the various negotiations develop with the EU, if the UK wants to trade with the EU on equal terms, UK data protection standards will have to be equivalent to the EU's General Data Protection Regulations ("GDPR"). For the UK to do business with the EU, or any other country for that matter, it is vital that data protection standards and legislation is of the highest order.



"Although cyber threats are now an everyday occurrence for businesses and individuals alike, there needs to be a cultural shift as it is clear that the required behavioural change at all levels is severely lagging. A recent government cyber survey of FTSE 350 companies indicated that only 33% of boards understood their appetite for cyber risk - 67% do not!



"All listed companies should have a Board-led Cyber Security Committee. As such, we are creating a Cyber Security Committee to sit alongside our Audit and Remuneration Committees."



*FTSE 350 Cyber Governance Health Check Report 2015 published on 8 May 2016.

Broker Forecast - Peel Hunt issues a broker note on NCC Group PLC

Peel Hunt today reaffirms its buy investment rating on NCC Group PLC (LON:NCC) and raised its price target to 330p (from 325p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

NCC Group PLC (NCC:LSE) set a new 52-week high during today's trading session when it reached 337.80. Over this period, the share price is up 46.57%

NCC Group PLC (NCC:LSE) set a new 52-week high during today's trading session when it reached 346.00. Over this period, the share price is up 44.31%.

10:20 13/09/2016
Broker Forecast - Citigroup issues a broker note on NCC Group PLC

Citigroup today initiates coverage of NCC Group PLC (LON:NCC) with a neutral investment rating and price target of 335p. Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Acquires US cyber security & payment consultancy
RNS
RNS Number : 2226L
NCC Group PLC
29 September 2016
 
29 September 2016
 
NCC Group plc
 
Acquisition of US cyber security and payment consultancy for up to $18.75m
 
NCC Group plc (LSE: NCC or "the Group"), the independent global cyber security and risk mitigation expert, has acquired Payment Software Company Inc. ("PSC") for a maximum consideration of $18.75m in cash.
 
PSC is a leading provider of cyber security, payment and compliance-related consulting services to the global payments industry as well as the financial and retail sectors.
 
Highlights
·      In addition to PSC's cyber security practice, it expands the Group's presence in the PCI (Payment Card Industry) sector and complements the existing UK PCI business
·      PSC works with a broad range of  blue chip clients at Board level including major financial institutions and other businesses across the payment sector
·      Based in Silicon Valley, with presence in 29 states in the US 
·      Total consideration of up to $18.75m - initial payment of $15m (subject to completion adjustments), with two further payments of up to $1.875m each, over the next two years dependent on performance related targets
·      In the year to 31 December 2015, PSC generated adjusted EBITDA of $1.6m on revenue of $9.5m, with approximately 85% of the revenue annually repeating
·      Earnings enhancing and financed from existing debt facilities and internally generated cash flow
 
Rob Cotton, NCC Group Chief Executive, said:
 
"This earnings enhancing acquisition is part of our strategy to acquire services-led businesses in both Europe and North America, to complement our geographical and technical presence.
 
"PSC is one of a very few companies that can provide expert services and solutions to organisations that require specialist compliance, consulting and cyber security testing services in the substantial and growing global payments industry.
 
"The addition of PSC, with its quality management team, is an extremely good fit with the rest of our cyber security capabilities. Its Board level relationships provide us with an opportunity to improve our customer penetration and bolster our global capabilities, particularly in the US."
 
PSC (https://www.paysw.com/) was established in 2004, employs 41 people and has offices in Toronto, Sydney and London. The support staff are based in California and the operational staff are located around the world.

30 Sep
Canaccord...
297.00
Hold

30 Sep
N+1 Singer
384.00
Buy

30 Sep
Citigroup
N/A
Neutral

Ouch!!!!!!



Trading update for first four months
RNS
RNS Number : 9913M
NCC Group PLC
20 October 2016
 
20 October 2016
 
NCC Group
 
Trading update for first four months
 
NCC Group plc (LSE: NCC or "the Group"), the independent global cyber security and risk mitigation expert, today publishes a trading update, covering the four months from 1 June 2016 to 30 September 2016.
 
Group revenues increased by 36% (September 2015: 48%) to £79.6m (September 2015: £58.5m) with organic growth of 21% (September 2015: 17%).
 
Both the Assurance and Escrow divisions showed strong organic revenue growth, up 25% and 4% respectively, despite the first four months of the financial year typically being the Group's quietest trading period.
 
The Group however experienced a number of setbacks in the Assurance Division including three large unrelated contract cancellations, a large contract deferral and difficulties with some managed services contract renewals.
 
It is too early to quantify the likely impact in the current financial year, as the Group is taking the necessary action to mitigate these developments. However, the Group's rate of growth in profitability will now be more biased towards the second half of the year than initially expected, but remains in line with the Board's expectations.
 
Rob Cotton, Group Chief Executive, comments:
 
"Overall, we continue to make good progress across the business with strong organic growth. However, we have been hit by a number of unrelated adverse developments in the Assurance Division that will have an impact on profitability between the first and second half of the financial year.
 
"Despite this, we will continue with our measured acquisition strategy and anticipate acquiring additional boutique cyber security consultancies over the next few months.
 
"We operate in a fast growing market and have forward order books and renewals of £108.8m, up from £71.9m this time last year. We continue to take the necessary action to mitigate this period's setbacks and remain on course to sustain our double digit organic revenue growth."
 
The Assurance Division continued to perform strongly with a 44% increase in revenue (September 2015: 57%) to £66.9m (September 2015: £46.6m). Excluding Fox-IT, organic growth was 25% (September 2015: 19%).
 
However, the loss of three major contracts along with difficulties with contract renewals within the managed security services business unit (formerly Accumuli plc) is causing a significant erosion of margin. The Group is working to remediate this position.
 
Fox-IT continues to be slowly integrated into the Group but the lumpy nature of its product revenues and a large contract deferral allied to complex Government relationships makes this process more challenging. However, the Group is looking forward to being able to push further Fox-IT products and services into new markets.
 
The Assurance Division's combined order book and renewals base currently stands at £84.2m (September 2015: £50.2m) for the year ended 31 May 2017. This includes web performance and managed security service renewals of £17.7m and £11.5m for Fox-IT.
 
The Escrow Division continued to perform strongly. Revenue grew by 4% (September 2015: 8%) to £11.2m (September 2015: £10.7m) and renewals are now forecast to be £21.0m for the current financial year (September 2015: £19.0m). 
 
Group Escrow termination rates continue to be around 11%. The global verification order book continues to be solid, with good prospects. It now stands at £3.6m (September 2015: £2.7m).
 
In the UK revenue, as expected, declined by 2% (September 2015: 8%) following a notably strong performance in the equivalent period last year. However, the Group expects a normal and positive performance for the full year.
 
In North America, revenue grew sharply by 25% (September 2015: 9%) and in mainland Europe, the smallest part of the Escrow Division, revenue grew by 15% (September 2015: 7%).
 
The Group acquired Palo Alto based Payment Software Company Inc. ("PSC") on 29 September 2016 for a maximum consideration of $18.75m in cash. The Group's net debt decreased, as expected, to £47.5m (September 2015: £65.3m) against a total debt facility of £115m. 
 
The Group expects to report its half-year results, for the six months to 31 November 2016 on Thursday, 19 January 2017.
 

Looks overdone to me.

NCC Group issues profit warning after contract losses


Cyber-security expert NCC Group has come clean on the details of an expected profit shortfall arising from losses and delays of several contracts in the core IT assurance division.

For the year to end-May 2017, the FTSE 250 group said it now expected adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation would be £45.5-47.5m.
It confessed that the gap between expected EBITDA and actual EBITDA in the Assurance division in the first half, "has become too significant to fill in the second half".

"After a full board and management review of the financial forecasts and considering the health of the Assurance business over the longer term, it was decided not to remediate the profit shortfall with short term initiatives." Total group forward orders and renewals as stated at 12 December 2016 was £112.8m, up from £108.8m in September.

Assurance's order book and renewals base is £88.8m, while the level of Escrow renewals are now forecast to be £21.3m for the current financial year.

Group revenues in the first half of the financial year to 30 November increased by 35% to £125.8m, of which Assurance increased 42% to £104.8m and Escrow by 14%.
Group adjusted EBITDA increased by 15% to £21.3m.

"In our trading update of 20 October 2016, we stated that we had seen three large unrelated contract cancellations in quick succession and one deferral in the Assurance division but it was too early to quantify the likely impact. We can today update the market with full year guidance," said chief executive Rob Cotton.
"Whilst our forward visibility remains strong, we now do not expect to make up this profitability in the current financial year."

He insisted that while the news was disappointing, the contract cancellations "do not reflect any structural change in our Assurance business". "The long-term outlook for our Assurance business is unchanged and we remain confident in the future prospects for both of our divisions."

Ouch.

Recovery in sp underway.

Go, up 8%

Final Results
RNS
RNS Number : 3422L
NCC Group PLC
18 July 2017
 
18 July 2017
NCC Group plc
NCC Group plc (LSE: NCC, "NCC" or "the Group"), the independent global cyber security and risk mitigation expert, has reported its full year results for the 12 months to 31 May 2017 and provides an update on the Strategic Review.
Year end results
·      Group revenue up 17% to £244.5m (2016: £209.1m), organic growth 3% excluding impact of FX and acquisitions
·      Operating loss £53.4m (2016: profit £11.4m)
·      Adjusted* EBIT £27.5m (2016: £39.7m)
·      Individually significant charges of £71.0m, including intangible asset write downs of £62.0m
·      Adjusted* EBITDA £36.2m (2016: £45.0m), in line with revised expectations
·      Adjusted* basic earnings per share 6.7p (2016: 11.8p)
·      Basic loss per share 20.4p (2016: earnings 2.5p)
·      Net debt reduced to £43.7m from half year level of £48.8m
·      Total dividend maintained at 4.65p per share with final dividend of 3.15p per share
·      Completed two small US based bolt-ons
·      Significant changes to the Board
 
Strategic Review
·      Markets and customer views of NCC services continue to be positive
·      NCC scores highly against the most important key customer purchasing criteria
·      Escrow remains an attractive business and stabilises the Group
·      Assurance focus on cyber security
o   Web Performance and Software Testing businesses to be sold
·      Business needs better internal organisation - changes to operating model underway
Chris Stone, Executive Chairman, comments:
"Our strategic review has identified the business's unique opportunity - leading positions in growing global markets, customers who value us and our exceptionally skilled workforce. But, we need to change how we organise ourselves and improve our internal business processes.
"The last financial year was very challenging, with the business performance falling well short of original expectations, as well as outgrowing some of our business processes and controls.
 
"However, and more importantly, it is clear that the business has a number of notable strengths. We still enjoy significant organic growth in our core segments and have a strong balance sheet. Furthermore, in a constantly evolving and complex market, our unique skills and capabilities are recognised by our customers as putting us at the forefront of the market.
"When we have successfully managed our way through this transitional period, improved our organisation and how we go to market, we see significant upside opportunities and material value creation.
"Overall, the Board's expectations for adjusted EBIT in 2018 are unchanged with its confidence in our prospects reflected in the recommendation to maintain the dividend at the current level."

Full Year Results
RNS
RNS Number : 8473U
NCC Group PLC
17 July 2018

17 July 2018
NCC Group plc
NCC Group plc (LSE: NCC, "NCC" or "the Group"), the independent global cyber security and risk mitigation expert, has reported its full year results for the 12 months to 31 May 2018.
Year end results[1]
· Group revenue from continuing operations grew by 8.3% to £233.2m (2017: £215.3m), Adjusted organic growth*[2] was 11.8%
· Group Gross Margin (GM%) gains of 4.9% pts with 5.3% pts in Assurance driven by improved utilisation of professional consultancy staff
· Adjusted*[3] EBITDA from continuing operations up 29% to £42.5m (2017: £33.0m)
· Adjusted* EBIT from continuing operations grew 22% to £31.0m (2017: £25.5m)
· Profit before tax recovered to £11.9m (2017: loss £44.8m)
· Adjusted* basic earnings per share 8.3p (2017: 6.2p), adjusted effective tax rate of 22.4%
· Net debt*[4] reduced to £27.8m (2017: £43.7m)
· Total dividend maintained at 4.65p per share with final dividend proposed of 3.15p per share
Strategic and Operational highlights
· Good progress made on the implementation of the strategic review, new initiatives in place to broaden and deepen the strategic plan
· Transformation programme launched under the brand 'Securing Growth Together' to invest £3.0m - £4.0m p.a. for the next two years. EBIT margin gains of c.1% p.a. targeted in the same period
· Organisational restructure completed around geographical units and customer segments
· Completed portfolio rationalisation with sales of Web Performance and Software Testing
· Significant changes to the Board and Executive management team
· Initiatives now underway to develop skills and capabilities as well as deepening industry specialisms and alignment
Chris Stone, Chairman, comments:
"We have made good progress against the strategic goals that we set for ourselves at the start of the year. The business has been successfully stabilised following a period of volatility. We have reorganised our senior management teams to improve our go-to market strategy. We have also maintained double digit organic* growth in our Assurance division, improved our Gross Margin ratio and completed the divestment of the two business units identified as non-core in the Strategic Review.
While much remains to be done, I am confident that the building blocks for long term sustainable improvement in business performance and shareholder returns are starting to be put in place.
The combination of continuing growth and improving margins in the two operating divisions will deliver year on year improvements in adjusted EBIT in 2019 while also allowing us to make considered and targeted investments to support the business transformation programme. Overall the Board's expectations for Adjusted EBIT in 2019 remain unchanged."
[1] The footnotes below refer to the use of Alternative Performance Measures (APMs). These terms and their calculations are explained in note 3. Throughout this document, we indicate APMs with a *.
[2] Organic growth excludes the impact of FX, acquisitions and the planned cut in third party product re-sales in the UK.
[3] Adjusted figures exclude the impact of Individually Significant Items, amortisation of acquired intangibles, share based payments, profit or loss on disposal of subsidiaries, the unwind of discount on acquisition consideration and any associated tax on these items.
[4] Net debt is calculated as total borrowings less cash and cash equivalents.
Adam Palser, Chief Executive Officer, comments:
"The Group has excellent foundations on which to build a world leading cyber security and risk mitigation business. We are working to broaden and deepen the strategic plan developed in the early part of the year, its core findings remain robust and relevant and it is now being expanded with our 'Securing Growth Together' transformation programme.
Our markets remain buoyant, our high quality customer base continues to see us providing value added technical expertise and our staff remain committed to building a genuinely differentiated global cyber security and business continuity group of companies."
A briefing for analysts will be held at 9:00am at the offices of Maitland, 3 HKX Building, Pancras Square, London N1C 4AG. The briefing will also be webcast live and can be accessed via this link:

10:20 27/07/2018
Broker Forecast - Berenberg issues a broker note on NCC Group PLC
Berenberg today upgrades its investment rating on NCC Group PLC (LON:NCC) to buy (from hold) and raised its price target to 260p (from 195p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com Broker Forecasts data provided by www.sharesmagazine.co.uk