15th Oct 2013 09:37
LONDON (Alliance News) - NCC Group PLC Tuesday reported a 20% jump in revenues in the first four months of its financial year and said it is on course to meet its expectations for the year to end-May, 2014.
The escrow software and assurance group said revenues were GBP35.6 million between June 1 and September 30, with 16% of the increase coming from organic growth as its international escrow business improved more than hoped and its assurance unit performed strongly against weak comparatives a year earlier.
"We have performed well in our traditionally quietest quarter and are on course to deliver good levels of growth and profitability," Chief Executive Rob Cotton said in a statement. "It's still early in the year but we remain on course to meet our expectations for the financial year to 31 May 2014."
The company's escrow software holds source code and data, meaning it's protected and client's can access their data from anywhere in the world. It said organic revenues for the business were up 8% and renewals are now forecast to be GBP18.1 million in the full year. It said its global verifications order book remains strong at GBP2.6 million, up from GBP2.1 million a year ago, with good prospects coming through in the US.
Revenues were up 26% in the assurance business, which tests software and website performance among other services for blue chip clients. However, it admitted that the year-earlier period had been abnormally slow.
"The challenge for the whole of the Assurance division remains the recruitment and retention of the highest quality testers. Whilst the number of testers in the Assurance Division has grown in the period the retention rate has been lower than in the past and is running at close to 90%," the company said.
It said the assurance division's overall order book and renewals base currently stands at GBP30.4 million, up from GBP26.7 million in October 2012, including the testing business combined order book of GBP23.8 million, up from GBP20.5 million.
NCC added that it had cut its net debt to GBP28.8 million by the end of the period, compared with GBP31.7 million a year earlier.
It expects to report its half-year results January 16.
NCC shares were up 2.4% at 160.25 pence Tuesday morning, close to the high for 2013 of 154.25 hit September 19.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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