Float for NCC led by software failures

Business software insurer NCC is the latest tech company to join the current wave of IPOs.

The escrow company will go public in July with a listing on AIM, with up to 75 per cent of its shares being floated. The total value of the IPO would value the company at around £65m and raise £23m of capital, which will help NCC resolve debt issues.

The management is keen to keep a 20 per cent stake in the company, with the stake owned by Barclays Private Equity – which bought NCC in 2003 – being floated.

The escrow section of NCC is one of its biggest growing areas of the business, up 32 per cent in the last six months of 2003, with the company posting a £4.8m operating profit in the year ended 31 May.

NCC provides escrow for software source code – acting as an intermediary and holding the code safe, so that in the event of a software company failing, its customers can still access the source code. Otherwise, the code is protected from unwanted or unnecessary inspection if all goes well, to ensure competitors can't take a look.