19 January 2021 – London, UK – Crossword Cybersecurity Plc (AIM:CCS, “Crossword”, the “Company” or the “Group”), the technology commercialisation company focused on cyber security and risk management, is pleased to announce that it expects to report results for the Financial Year ended 31 December 2020, in line with market expectations, in April 2021.
Overall revenue during the year is expected to show an increase of 25% to £1.6m. Within that, revenues from product and consulting revenue are anticipated to have expanded by 39%, reflecting the Company’s shift from software development services to its core of product and consulting revenue. Cash balances as at 31 December were £958k.
Software and process development continued during 2020 with the launch of Rizikon Pro in July 2020. Rizikon Pro is an out-of-the-box, online SaaS solution, offered on a pay-as-you-go basis, giving smaller and medium sized organisations access to a set of core easy-to-use supplier assurance platform features, at a lower cost. Modules can be chosen according to need, meaning customers only pay for the features they use, and can be expanded as required. Rizikon Pro is transforming the sales model with a much shorter sales cycle and impressively high conversion from trials to paying clients.
Crossword continues to have several large bids in its pipeline. There were two multi-million-pound opportunities which we alluded to in an RNS on 28 September 2020 for which the process concluded in 2020; one where we received notice that procurement had been abandoned by the UK Government department, and the other where we were unsuccessful.
In November 2020, Crossword began working with Verifiable Credentials Ltd on its Innovate UK funded-project to allow NHS laboratories to issue Covid-19 immunity certificates. In addition, in December 2020, Crossword was awarded an Innovate UK grant with a university partner and two well-known British Manufacturing businesses, to investigate the issues around effective Manufacturing Supply Chain risk management and possible solutions.
In 2020, the consulting division continued to grow in a range of high-profile sectors including legal, insurance and financial services. Work commenced on a major project for one of the world’s largest, global S&P500 insurance brokers.
Tom Ilube, CEO of Crossword, commented;
“Crossword emerged from a challenging 2020 in great shape, meeting market expectations of 25% revenue growth. We are looking forward to an exciting year ahead, accelerating roll out of Rizikon Pro, securing major consulting clients, adding to our cyber security product portfolio, and expanding internationally. We expect the revenue growth rate to more than double in 2021.”
The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the UK Market Abuse Regulation. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
Contacts
Crossword Cybersecurity plc – Tel: +44 (0) 20 3953 8460
Email: info@crosswordcybersecurity.com
Tom Ilube, Chief Executive Officer
Mary Dowd, Finance Director
Grant Thornton (Nominated Adviser) – Tel: +44 (0) 20 7383 5100
Colin Aaronson / Jamie Barklem
Hybridan LLP (Broker) – Tel: +44 (0)203 764 2341
Claire Louise Noyce
For media enquiries contact:
Duncan Gurney, GingerPR
duncan@gingerpr.co.uk – Tel: +44 (0)1932 485 300
About Crossword Cybersecurity plc
Crossword Cybersecurity plc focuses on the development and commercialisation of university research-based cyber security and risk management related software and cyber security consulting. The Group’s specialist cyber security product development and software engineering teams work with its university partners to develop the research concept into a fully-fledged commercial product that it will then take to market. The Group’s aim is to build up a portfolio of revenue generating, intellectual property based, cyber security products. Rizikon Assurance, Crossword’s leading product, is a SaaS platform that enables medium to large companies to assess and manage all risks from their suppliers. Nixer CyberML, Crossword’s most recently launched product, is a new tool for businesses that want to solve advanced security and cybercrime problems, such as detecting and dealing with compromised accounts, fraud, and in-application denial of service attacks. Crossword’s team of expert cyber security consultants leverages years of experience in national security, defence and commercial cyber intelligence and operations to provide bespoke advice tailored to its clients’ business needs.
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