International security services firm NCC Group saw total revenue grow 2.2 per cent for the half-year ended 30 November 2020, as it successfully mitigated the effects of the pandemic on business.
Sales reached £135.6m and EBITDA rose 7.5% annually to £24.7m. The operating profit went up 14.3% to £12m. Assurance revenue growth was 2.4% and software resilience revenue “stabilised” with growth of 0.5%.
Managed detection and response (MDR) revenues were up 24.5% to £23.4m, “providing greater recurring income”, said the company. Escrow as-a-service (EaaS), the firm's cloud escrow offering, saw orders up 83.3% annually to £1.1m, with notable client wins including BT and Barclays.
NCC also enjoyed increased business from the likes of Bose and Facebook, and to signal further growth to come it won a €25m contract after the close of H1 2021 to secure university networks in the Netherlands. It added that spending decisions delayed in some customer segments because of Covid had “built up a compliance debt” that “must be paid down in the future”.
Adam Palser (pictured), NCC Group chief executive officer, said: “Although ongoing disruption to some customer segments is still holding cyber resilience spend back from its full potential, we expect accelerated market growth in the future.”
He added: “Full-year trading is in line with our expectations, we are also maintaining our interim dividend of 1.5p and our balance sheet strength and trading resilience give us a foundation to invest in organic and in-organic opportunities.”
The company employs around 2,000 across 12 countries.
