Ncc Share Discussion Threads

[rivaldo] 02/10/2018 07:18

Good to see a non-exec buying £21,000 of shares at 202p:

[boadicea] 28/9/2018 08:57

These Holdings notifications sometimes confuse me.
Why was it issued? It does not appear to notify a threshold crossing - above 5% before and after.
However I have only found a previous notification of under 5% on 24/10/16, so the original 5% crossing sometime in the past 2 years was presumably missed and this rectifies the situation.

[rivaldo] 28/9/2018 07:18

Good to see Fidelity increasing their stake - they now have 5.38%, or 14.95m shares:

[rivaldo] 27/9/2018 10:12

Jefferies have a 275p target and say Buy:



"‘Attractive’ NCC turning around, says Jefferies

IT and support services group NCC (NCCG) has moved on a long way since it was in crisis management mode a year ago and the company still remains attractive, says Jefferies.

Analyst Ken Rumph reiterated his ‘buy’ recommendation and target price of 275p on the shares, which rose 2.4% to 206p yesterday.

‘Versus the crisis management still underway a year ago, NCC is now driving its strategic transformation as set out under the new top team at July’s full-year 2018 results,’ he said.

‘With disposals completed, acquisitions lower priority, and a growing cybersecurity market to take advantage of, NCC remains attractive with plenty of room for improvement in margin and cashflow terms in its medium term plan.’"

[jerseyman1] 26/9/2018 13:59

It's been at 3.75 a couple of years back, but that was fuelled by acquisition led expansion. That appears to be off the agenda for now, so I guess we will have to accept lower growth in share price Would be nice to be back there though......

[a2584728] 26/9/2018 12:19

Price target has to be 350 for me

[rivaldo] 26/9/2018 11:29

Peel Hunt say Buy with a 275p target (and Shore Capital also say Buy, no price target given):

[a2584728] 26/9/2018 11:27

Adds this am.

[jerseyman1] 26/9/2018 10:40

Any operational/financial detail would have been helpful! Other than that Palser said all he could say. Glad it's him taking the front line public role rather than Stone.

[a2584728] 26/9/2018 09:55

Yes. I like the tone of the RNS. We are on plan but not getting carried away

[rivaldo] 26/9/2018 07:53

....and the short-term, given the solid performance to date:

"The Group has made a solid start to the year and continues to trade in line with the Board's expectations for the full year Adjusted Operating Profit(1) at the time of the Preliminary Results on 17 July 2018.

Adam Palser, CEO, commented "We are shaping our future through the Securing Growth Together transformation programme, which is in its early stages but has made a promising start. I'm pleased with our overall performance in the quarter and remain excited by the Group's long term prospects."

[a2584728] 26/9/2018 07:17

All looks good for long term

[rivaldo] 07/9/2018 10:43

(a) a general point about BA's insecure cybersecurity and (b) ever-improving environment for NCC and similar companies in the sector.

[soon_to_go] 07/9/2018 10:23

What's your point rivaldo? HTTPS has nothing to do with how hackers breached BA.

[rivaldo] 07/9/2018 09:25

Interesting that NCC only last year flagged the BA home page as insecure (which was subsequently supposedly fixed)....

[a2584728] 06/9/2018 08:43

This will receive bids very soon imho. Price circa 250p would suit share holders and any potential bidder

[a2584728] 03/9/2018 09:54

What was that all about. Something coming?

[cerrito] 27/8/2018 21:21

I had semi planned to go to the AGM but for me 11am in Manchester is not feasible.

Good that they are having it there as it enables one to get a feel of the place and speak to people. Just wish it was later in the day. One NED that would be worth talking to is Jennifer Duvalier- the ex Head of People at ARM -to get her take given that in the webcast Adam Palser correctly stressed that people are key. Also this will be the first outing of the new FD.


I thought the webcast v useful and good to see Adam P in action. He presented himself well and gave coherent answers- although did not answer the very good question as to what yardsticks can outsiders like us use to measure how successful change in company's way of doing things has been. He seemed rather full of himself-although difficult to get from the webcast an accurate reading. I note he has an Oxford PhD and a Stanford MBA and my sense is that he will not allow himself to be pushed around by the Chairman, which in this case is good.
I have had a wander through the AR. Good to see that despite the difficult twelve months the large shareholders on the whole stayed put- we did loose Aberforth and RWC(never heard of them) since July last year. Also I was pleased to see mugshots of more members of the SLT than last year.
Can well understand why there was no increase in the dividend and let's hope there will be an increase however small in a year' s time.
The have neither sold or bought since April last year and plan to remain with what I have. Those who bought at circa 180 p a couple of months ago will have done well

[a2584728] 07/8/2018 13:57

Maybe looking to break out of trading range

[rivaldo] 27/7/2018 11:34

Berenberg upgrade today to Buy, with a massive increase in the target price to 260p (from 195p):

[cac86] 23/7/2018 08:09

MuddyW - I don't think the Fox final payment is anything to worry about, although it does look like some window dressing by the CFO to make net debt look better than forecast because he failed to make the inroads into working capital that he was so confident about last year. The payment was due last November but probably because of the loss making contract, NCC tried to claim against warranties agreed during the deal. There should no further ramifications if the payment has now been made. As for Escrow MD, I think it looks like a gentle way to exit him, as jajc1 said, the main business is in the UK. With the apparent resignation of Rawlinson the two divisional MDs are gone and it is only a matter of time before a new Group Escrow MD will be hired.

[jajc1] 21/7/2018 12:40

Escrow M.D. has American spouse and kids so I assume he’s using the “opportunity” for NCC to pay to relocate his family back to US. Strange move when 90% of his Escrow sales And operations Head count and revenue is in the UK though.

[muddyw] 21/7/2018 12:18

I'm a bit suspicious about the 'deferred payment' to Fox IT, that would have made these numbers a clean sweep of 'lower than expected'? What are the legal / financial implications of not honouring the payment? The lack of explanation about it, when it was such a pivotal element of the results numbers, is - to me - a bit worrying.

PS - Any 'insiders' have details on the rumours of Escrow management being fired over a couple of 'legal issue' cover-ups? Or the MD being moved into the departure lounge of the flagging US (Atlanta) office? Are they true / related? Or are the bigwigs just finally turning their attention to the dwindling performance of their 'cash cow' now that they've finished re-structuring the Assurance division?

[a2584728] 20/7/2018 10:07

The market seems to like the recent developments I am still looking to exit at 300p before Christmas 2018. May see a dip in August as usual

[rivaldo] 20/7/2018 08:55

New recent highs now - buying coming in at above 225p.