16th Oct 2007 07:00
NCC Group PLC16 October 2007 16 October 2007 NCC Group plc Interim Management Statement NCC Group plc (LSE: NCC or "the Group"), the international, independent providerof Escrow Solutions, Assurance Testing and Consultancy, is today publishing itsfirst interim management statement, as a fully listed company, covering theperiod from 1 June 2007 to 12 October 2007. The Group's overall trading performance as indicated in the statement made atthe AGM continues to be in line with the Board's expectations. The Group is nowbeginning to realise benefits from its substantially enlarged ethical securitytest team, following the acquisition and integration of two testing businesses,Site Confidence and Secure Test, earlier this year. Group Escrow Solutions and Assurance Testing divisions have seen good growthduring the first four months of the current financial year, with a consistentperformance being delivered by Consultancy. Group revenues grew by almost 40%for the period, which represents an increase of over 14% on a like for likebasis, excluding the recently acquired businesses and curtailed activities. An Escrow Solutions sales facility has now been established in Dorking, alongwith an Ethical Security testing facility. Current expectations are that theoperating costs incurred in setting up these facilities, including associatedtraining and recruitment charges, will be matched by revenues by the end of thisfinancial year. The performance of the Group's core division, Escrow Solutions, continues to bestrong. UK Escrow Solutions has continued to grow well and the contract base isshowing annualised growth of nearly 11% (May 2007: 8.3%) as there are now 7,704live contracts (May 2007: 7,440). There are now 13,965 beneficiaries to those agreements, excluding minimum annualfees, (May 2007: 13,521) which represents an annualised growth rate of nearly10% (May 2007: 9.0%). The growth including minimum annual fees is nearly 9%. Escrow Verification Testing has also seen strong growth of 25% for the period. Group renewals are now forecast to be £10.5m for the year (May 2007: £9.4m).Group termination rates continue to be below 11% for contracts andbeneficiaries. The UK annual price increase is being implemented this month with the new pricesbecoming effective from the start of November for all new Escrow Solutionscontracts and Escrow Verification Testing, and from the start of January forrenewals as they are invoiced five weeks in advance. Prices for the mainproduct lines will be increased by at least 6%. US Escrow Solutions continues to perform in line with expectations and Germanyis now marginally profitable. The Assurance Testing division has seen strong sales growth with record orderand renewals bases for the businesses. Ethical Security Testing has an orderbook of £2.6m (May 2007: £2.2m) as market demand continues to increase for highquality Ethical Security Testing. The Load and Performance Testing business now has monitoring renewals of morethan £3.5m annually (May 2007: £3.2m). The renewal rate is in excess of 90% asmore companies seek to gain competitive advantage by improving their web sites'performance capabilities and therefore the user experience. The Consultancy division order book remains at £1.8m (May 2007: £1.8m) in linewith the Board's expectations. The Group expects to report its interim figures for the six months to 30November 2007 on Tuesday 22 January 2008. Overall the Group is on course to deliver another year of strong growth in linewith market expectations. Enquiries: NCC Group (www.nccgroup.com) 0161 209 5432 Rob Cotton, Chief Executive Paul Edwards, Group Finance Director College Hill Adrian Duffield 020 7457 2020 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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