GRC ends year strongly as high demand continues

3rd May 2022 12:55

(Sharecast News) - Governance, risk management and compliance provider GRC International said in a trading update on Tuesday that billings for the financial year just ended were up 21% to £14.8m.

The AIM-traded firm said fourth quarter billings were ahead 25% to £4.5m, with March billings the highest since the end of the GDPR peak in May 2018, despite macroeconomic headwinds.

It said billings from recurring revenue products for the year ended 31 March accounted for 56% of total billings, up from 54%.

The company's recurring revenue subscriber base was up 41% to 5,089, while 57% of transactions were from returning existing customers, compared to 45% in the prior year.

GRC said second-half revenue growth continued in line with the progress made in the first half, with fourth quarter revenues up 14% to at least £4.0m.

EBITDA was set to be at least £0.8m, swinging from a loss of £1.1m.

The firm reported cash at year-end of £2.0m, up from £0.2m, reflecting its January share placing and an "exceptionally strong" February and March trading and cash performance.

Looking ahead, the board said it was seeing "significant" international growth opportunities in a "digitally-transformed, cloud-based, increasingly-vulnerable, hybrid-working environment".

It said that was the result of corporates of all sizes needing to deal with "increasingly complex" regulations and enforcement in the company's three primary geographic markets of the UK, the EU and the United States.

"Our strong performance in calendar 2021 continued into the fourth quarter of 2022, resulting in our best month of billing, despite the economic and geopolitical headwinds," said chief executive officer Alan Calder.

"That strong momentum in the fourth quarter and cash generation have continued into the start of the new financial year.

"Our technology capabilities and our track record, with deep expertise and cyber defence-in-depth model, provide our clients with peace of mind."

Calder said the company's strategy was to "grow organically and by acquisition", with the latter to "deepen and widen" its offering.

"To that end, we are making good progress to execute on our acquisition plans."

At 1157 BST, shares in GRC International Group were up 7.14% at 30p.