Bradford-based ECSC Group, a cyber security services provider which includes Barclays among its customers, has announced that it will float on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Investors will be able to publicly trade shares of ECSC on December 14th. The float is expected to raise £5 million, according to the AIM site.
The company hopes to raise the £5 million by placing nearly three million new shares that will be valued at 167 per share. ECSC plans to reinvest the funds, expanding its team from the current 50 employees to 200, and opening a branch in Australia to facilitate around-the -lock cyber security support. If the float is successful, it will also open a permanent incident response centre in London.
The security firm, established in 2000, offers a range of services in the field of cyber security. These include: penetration testing, code audit and security consulting. The company has had a compound annual growth rate of 16.9% between 2013 and 2016, and announced a gross profit of £2.2 million for 2015.
“We believe the ongoing cyber security breaches affecting some of the world’s most prominent companies are making cyber security an important issue for company boards,” said Ian Mann, CEO of ECSC, adding that a spate of security incidents made this the ideal time to open the company to public investment and accelerate growth: “We believe that the listing will enable us to take the Company to the next phase and capitalise on the strong market opportunities available to us.”
