TechMARK movers: NCC gains from cyber security fears

20th Jan 2011 12:56

NCC reported interims in line with expectations and the prospects for the IT assurance services provider remain positive as corporates worry about cyber security. The software assurance testing business is growing via acquisition and this has given it additional capacity in a market with a limited supply of experts. NCC is pushing up prices in its software escrow business, which will supplement organic growth. The company has a strong recurring revenue base. Peel Hunt forecasts a rise in underlying profit from £14.5m to £17.1m in the year to May 2011. Shares in Parkinson's disease treatment developer Phytopharm have continued to rise following yesterday afternoon's announcement that the chief executive and the research and development director had each acquired 120,000 shares at 8.3p each. These are their first share purchases. ARM has slipped back even though Goldman Sachs upgraded the chip designer from neutral to buy earlier in the week. Other commentators believe that ARM needs to prove its high rating compared to the rest of the sector is justified. FTSE TechMARK - Risers AEA Technology Group (AAT) 6.50p +6.91%Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 287.00p +6.30%Microgen (MCGN) 122.50p +4.70%Phytopharm (PYM) 8.85p +4.12%NCC Group (NCC) 665.00p +3.42%QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 136.80p +1.94%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 664.50p +1.92%Spirent Communications (SPT) 141.60p +1.58%Skyepharma (SKP) 38.00p +1.33%E2V Technologies (E2V) 96.00p +1.05%FTSE TechMARK - Fallers Ark Therapeutics Group (AKT) 5.20p -5.45%ARM Holdings (ARM) 514.00p -3.66%Sinclair Pharma (SPH) 38.75p -3.12%Promethean World (PRW) 63.25p -3.07%Filtronic (FTC) 55.00p -2.65%Biocompatibles International (BII) 390.00p -2.50%Anite (AIE) 65.00p -2.26%Axis-Shield (ASD) 298.25p -2.05%Alterian (ALN) 201.00p -1.95%XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,285.00p -1.91%