Manchester-based cyber security company NCC Group plc said on Tuesday its revenue rose 2.6% to £270.5 million in the 12 months to May 31, 2021, and profit before tax soared 54.2% to £14.8 million.

It its outlook, NCC said that for the current financial year (FY22) it expects higher revenue growth partially offset by increased global costs from inflationary pressures as well as a resumption in travel and office usage.   

It said first-quarter orders were ahead year on year and its pipeline is robust. 

NCC said full year outturn remains in line with management expectations and it is recommending an unchanged final dividend of 3.15p.

NCC Group CEO Adam Palser said: “Thanks to the hard work, dedication and skill of my NCC Group colleagues, FY21 was a year in which we made demonstrable progress towards our vision to be the leading cyber resilience provider globally.

“Revenues grew despite the disruption caused by the pandemic, and improved profitability and excellent cash generation flowed from the greater control enabled by our Securing Growth Together programme.

“Cyber resilience has never been more of a priority than it is today.

“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.”