Profit slips but outlook positive at Intercede

Security software provider Intercede reported a fall in annual profit but remains confident about future trading amid a sharp rise in new customer accounts and strong growth in North America.

The group, which issued a profit warning in February, said pre-tax profits fell to £0.9m in the year to the end of March from £2m the year before. Revenues increased to £7m from £6.9m a year ago.

Intercede, whose MyID identity management platform allows companies and governments to create digital identities for employees on secure devices such as smartcards, smartphones and tablets, has customers including ANZ Bank, BASF, Boeing, HealthSmart Australia, Lockheed Martin and Swedbank.

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Chairman and chief executive Richard Parris said: "The investment we have made this year in our sales and delivery capability gives us a real competitive advantage."

New customer accounts contributed 21% of total sales with the number of user licences issued rising to over 5m. Sales in North America have grown strongly as a result of several big wins to contribute over 64% of total sales.

Parris added, "Our pipeline of commercial opportunities continues to grow as we seek to deepen our penetration of the markets where Intercede's MyID digital identity technology has become an industry standard. There are also a number of new technology-led trends which provide additional opportunities for Intercede; for example mobile device security and the deployment of digital patient identities in healthcare. The outlook is therefore extremely positive."

CJ