Northcoders Group plc, the provider of software coding training programmes, announced it has successfully secured further funding from its UK Department for Education Skills Bootcamps Wave 4 bid.
Northcoders also published a trading update for the six months to June 30, 2023, showing revenue for the period increased 52% to £3.5 million.
Northcoders is based in Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Birmingham.
“The group is pleased to announce that it has successfully secured further funding from the Department for Education Skills Bootcamps Wave 4 bid,” said Northcoders.
“This new round of funding provides Northcoders with a further £4.5 million to train individuals on the Northcoders market-leading bootcamp and provides the company with strong revenue visibility for H2-2023 and FY-2024.
“In addition, it also provides the group with a 12.5% increase in funding per student which is expected to increase the gross profit margins of the group’s training products and assist in covering recent inflation-linked cost increases.”
Northcoders joined the stock market at £1.80 per share in July 2021 and the stock rose as high as £3.75 in September 2022. It now trades around £2.10, giving the firm a stock market value of about £17 million.
In its trading update, Northcoders said: “The group is trading comfortably in line with management expectations.
“Revenue for the period increased by 52% to £3.5 million (H1-2022: £2.3 million). As at 30 June 2023, revenue visibility for FY-2023 was £6.75 million, being 70% of the market expectations for the full year.
“As forecasted before the start of the current financial year, it remains the board’s expectation that FY-2023 revenues will be second half weighted.
“Substantial business development progress has been made by Northcoders towards the visibility of H2-2023’s revenue forecast.
“In H1-2023 Northcoders’ Business Solutions division secured a number of significant new contracts with large corporate clients including Deutsche Bank and BAE Systems.
“The group also has confirmation of a repeat programme from KPMG to begin during Q4-2023 and a healthy business development pipeline which the board is confident will further boost full-year revenue visibility during the coming months. In addition, to strengthening corporate business, the Business Solutions division has also secured its first public sector consultancy contract with a major government department.
“The Training Bootcamps division grew its graduate hiring network by a further 9% by engaging with 76 new organisations for the first time this year.
“Northcoders now has a network of over 450 partner companies to sustain its graduate hiring from training bootcamps.
“The group has also seen increased demand from individuals wanting to enrol on its core coding bootcamps and Returner Programmes.
“Application numbers in the six months to June 2023 stood at 3,494, which compares favourably with the 3,662 applications in the 12 months to December 2022.
“Despite the positive momentum made by the group in H1-2023, the current financial year does present a number of market challenges that demand the board’s full attention.
“The group acknowledges the prevailing headwinds encountered by the technology market, including budget constraints, workforce reductions and recruitment freezes that is affecting many of the group’s partner companies, which potentially might affect the vacancies available to Northcoders Training Bootcamp graduates.
“The board remains resolute in its approach and continues to inject significant investment into the group’s corporate sales and partnerships teams across all Northcoders’ divisions.
“This proactive measure signifies the group’s total commitment to ensuring exceptional outcomes for the individuals engaged in its Training Bootcamps and positions the group favourably for continued growth within its consultancy division, Business Services …”
Northcoders CEO Chris Hill said: “In spite of challenging market conditions, the board is confident of achieving further growth for the full year.
“During the period Northcoders won a number of contracts with large corporates as well as securing further funding from the Department for Education, providing the group with good forward visibility of revenues.
“The company is financially strong and we are well placed to further invest in the business for growth.”