Ncc Share Discussion Threads

[blackhorse23] 27/6/2023 07:14

Group lost major North American contracts

[aberloon2] 23/6/2023 09:32

That 190,000 trade has just caused a ripple of excitement 😎

[jerseyman1] 23/6/2023 08:26

Agree, but NCC has a market position in Escrow that it has held for many years. It was the go to place for Escrow in U.K. ages ago and has built a leading position on a bigger stage now.

[eezymunny] 23/6/2023 07:51

Any company buying software may make a vendor put source code in Escrow. It´s a simple contractual arrangement at trivial cost. The link with a company´s cyber security requirements is very very minimal, if any IMO. But everyone´s free to disagree!

[epistrophy] 22/6/2023 22:06

I don't think it's totally wrong. When I worked in software development, we had to get mandatory 3rd party "pen tests" (i.e. security review) for any major work. So presumably a client might want both Escrow and Pen Testing for a new piece of work, allowing some cross-selling.

The managed services business is probably most interesting, if they can scale it up.

[eezymunny] 22/6/2023 19:05

Exactly Epistrophy. It´s so far removed from cyber security.

[dealy] 22/6/2023 14:22

There is a synergy in that you sell to the same customers (IT departments of large global companies).

[eezymunny] 22/6/2023 13:12

What do you think the synergy between the divisions is, dealy? Do you know what a software Escrow is for? Cyber-security just one of many reasons to keep a copy of software at NCC or similar and certainly not the prime reason...

[dealy] 22/6/2023 10:50

What is so confusing? It's a company focused on software assurance and security. There are synergies across all streams. The stock is simply oversold and undervalued. It will likely recover or be purchased

[boadicea] 22/6/2023 10:33

Maybe this company needs to split with either or both business streams going to new owners. As it is, it's difficult to see a quick way up.

[eezymunny] 22/6/2023 10:09

zoolook. Yes, but nothing is certain of course. I´m not inclined to believe their forward thinking but we´ll see. At 80p it feels like you stand to make more than you´d lose, given the backstop of the Escrow business. I don´t currently own having profited handsomely from the 80-100p bounce but I´d buy again and average down gently from 80p.

[zoolook] 22/6/2023 10:02

Hi Eezy
Re post 2196 do you still think the risk/reward is pretty good at 80p?

[dealy] 22/6/2023 09:20

not if worse has already been priced in.

[blackhorse23] 22/6/2023 09:09

Profit warning & loss of revenues , will push down SP

[dealy] 22/6/2023 08:46

Thr sw escrow business alone is worth more than the current market cap

[epistrophy] 22/6/2023 08:38

Totally agree on it being difficult to value. Do you know any other similar listed companies (US or elsewhere)? It seems pretty rare to see any cybersecurity co trading at 12x EBIT, but maybe that's the wrong investing approach to take in this sector...

[eezymunny] 22/6/2023 08:36

Come on dealy. There a a stack of listed cyber-security co´s in the UK. Then all the unlisted ones and the hundreds of them around the world. Competition will be very fierce.

[dealy] 22/6/2023 08:34

It is not easy or cheap to build products and services that are used by large global companies. This is where the value comes from.

[eezymunny] 22/6/2023 08:25

I think that´s the point Imperialist. What do NCC offer that´s not offered by dozens of competitors?

Valuing NCC is quite hard. The Escrow division is very valuable. Other stuff looks very average (how can they have been racked up all that debt on mediocre acquisitions?)

[epistrophy] 22/6/2023 08:21

Imperialist, that may be true but what about when they get a £5m ransomware demand?

[epistrophy] 22/6/2023 08:08

CFO walking or pushed?

[dealy] 22/6/2023 08:05

can't believe we opened down after that update

[the imperialist] 22/6/2023 08:00

Companies like NCC thrived at the time Cyber Security was considered a dark art. It's much more mainstream now it's evolved as a discipline. With the exception of mandatory compliance activities, organisations aren't paying £1000+ per day for consultants to tell them to use strong passwords anymore.