There is no shortage of books on how to be a better investor – a fair selection of them have been reviewed by Shares – but there are precious few guides on how to spot corporate misdoing and save yourself from losing money when a company collapses. Former AAA-rated New Star and Artemis fund manager Tim Steer has written the book we’ve all been waiting for: The Signs Were There: the clues ...

Cyber security consultancy NCC (NCC) has said its results for the year to 31 May will be ‘comfortably ahead’ of market expectations, sparking a significant rally in the share price. Shares in the Manchester-based business surged nearly 13% in early trading on Tuesday to 197.4p, their highest since early March. FIRST CUTS WERE THE DEEPEST Consensus expectations had been pitched at ...

Cyber security specialist NCC (NCC) continues its recovery from a February warning of softer UK demand and staffing issues with today’s trading update as the shares advance 6.9% to 171p. NCC has two key divisions, one provides software escrow services, which basically means it keeps safe vital code for enterprise software and applications. The two sides of the business complement each ...

London shares open on a subdued note in early trade on Thursday as investors await the latest EU-wide interest rate decision from the European Central Bank at midday. While little is anticipated to have changed in terms of guidance market watchers are hopeful that the language used will be of an increasingly optimistic hue, with economic risk moving a little more to the downside. But this ...

Broadband and calls supplier TalkTalk (TALK) is firmly backed by investors in early trade on Tuesday, the stock rallying around 6% to 116.7p, after the company lays out a promising trading update. The embattled company has been gripped by an intense price war with big rivals like BT (BT.A), Sky (SKY) and Virgin and has faced other issues, but news today that it has added 80,000 ...

London’s FTSE 100 ticks 77 points higher to 7,681 on Wednesday, investors evidently regaining confidence with miners, tobacco sellers and drug companies in demand early on. High-end housebuilder Berkeley (BKG) cheapens 3.5% to £39.93 after warning that profit growth will slow to ‘more normal levels’ from 2018/19, when profits are expected to be around 30% lower. Results for the year ...

Cambridge-based GRC International (GRC:AIM) has raised £5m to support growth plans as part of its listing on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market today (5 March). Its shares jumped more than 23% to 86.5p in early trading as investors rushed to get exposure to the cyber security training and consultancy business. Investors are no doubt also attracted to the stock because its chairman ...

The cyber security space is one of the most in-demand UK technology investment themes. Market appetite has been encouraged by a combination of high profile hacking attacks (TalkTalk (TALK), the NHS, Sony, eBay, Uber; it’s a long list) plus tightening regulations on organisations. For example, European general data protection rules (GDPR) are set to come into force from May 2018. In tandem ...

Manchester-based NCC (NCC) is showing genuine signs of stability and recovery after a difficult period in late 2016 and early 2017. Investor sentiment is starting to improve towards the company and its prospects, and we believe there could be at least 20% upside to the share price over the next year. NCC is a cyber-security consultant and provider of software escrow services, which ...

London’s blue-chip benchmark opens 35 points lower at 7,369.2 with investors waiting on a string of UK inflation data out mid-morning from the Bank of England, the country's consumer-price index in particular focus. In corporate news, construction services group Carillion (CLLN), whose shares collapsed following a profit warning last week, rebounds 8.2% to 72.35p after bagging two new ...

Tuesday 18 July Full year figures from NCC (NCC) on 18 July could be ugly. Expect a slump in pre-tax profit (to about £26.6m) and a sizeable hike in net debt thanks to lost contracts, write-downs and two profit warnings. There should be an update on the internal strategic review, designed to get the cyber security consultancy back on ...

Many investors may feel they are drowning in an already vast sea of acronyms but GDPR is one you really need to know about. The General Data Protection Regulation is set to be enforced from May 2018, and these new rules have huge ramifications for every company listed on the stock market, and beyond. GDPR is a new set of laws designed to instil greater accountability and transparency over the ...

Organisations across the world have been thrown into disarray by a ransomware hacking attack that has hobbled IT systems. That’s prompted investors to take another look at firms which help defend against cyber security breaches. Experts are calling it the biggest ransomware attack so far, with more than 200,000 computers believed to have been infected from Russia to Taiwan. The event shut down ...

Reports Saudi Arabia and Russia will 'do whatever it takes' to support oil prices helps drive crude higher and push the commodities-focused FTSE 100 close to record highs, 0.28% higher to 7,456.39. As you would expect, mining and oil stocks dominate the FTSE leaderboard. Travel operator TUI AG (TUI) falls 5.5% to £11.25. Investors apparently unconvinced the company can grow underlying ...

Steel-to-mining giant Evraz (EVR), the largest coking coal producer in Russia, rises 5% to 241.9p on strong full year results, reflecting a surge in the coking coal price as well as cost-cutting initiatives. CEO Alexander Frolov remains ‘cautiously optimistic about the market environment’ and believes Evraz will generate resilient free cash flow and further decrease leverage during ...

Tax payer-backed bank Lloyds Banking (LLOY) reports its highest full-year profit in a decade on Wednesday. This has investors excited that the previously embattled bank is at last closing in on a complete recovery from its crisis-era past, sending the share price soaring to the head of the FTSE 100 leader board, up more than 4% to 69.5p. Britain's biggest housebuilder Barratt Developments ...

Manchester-based IT escrow, assurance and cyber security services business NCC (NCC) finally closed the book on its website domain name services venture today, selling its Open Registry unit in a €3.75m deal. The buyer is Luxembourg-based holding company KeyDrive and Terrain.com and the sale includes the operating units Open Registry, ClearingHouse for Intellectual Property, Nexperteam CVBA and ...

Cyber security company NCC (NCC) is having to accept it was too optimistic about its ability to recover a profits shortfall from contract losses and delays in its Assurance business that sparked a shock profit warning on 20 October. The Manchester-based company now admits that adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the full year to 31 May 2017 will ...

Cyber security company NCC (NCC) has had to come clean that its previous confidence on recovering a profit shortfall from losses and delays of several contracts in the core IT assurance division is too much of a stretch. The company admits that it will not now be able to make-up the gap which has become 'too significant to fill in the second half.' Shares suggested what looked like a missed ...

Today's profit warning really is a bolt from the blue. Software escrow and cyber security consultancy NCC (NCC) has lost three major contracts within its Assurance division, pretty much the Accumuli business bought in 2015. There's also delays in signing government contracts at its Fox-IT arm, and this all comes with a hefty hit. 'We expect these issues will have a significant impact on half year ...