NCC Group offloads software testing business

Cybersecurity firm rakes in £3.6m for unwanted unit

Cybersecurity VAR NCC Group has flogged its software testing business for £3.6m after deciding the unit had "little strategic overlap" with the rest of the business.

The £244m-revenue firm said the decision to offload the unit was made following a strategic review of the business last year.

The testing division has been acquired by QualiTest, which claims to be the world's largest independent software tester.

In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, publicly listed NCC said: "NCC Group's strategic review, which completed in July 2017, concluded that its software testing and web Performance businesses had little strategic overlap with the group's broader cybersecurity and business continuity activities and therefore would be sold.

"It was management's view that both businesses would benefit from operating within companies whose core activities were more closely aligned to their own."

The testing division contributed £0.7m of adjusted EBIT to NCC during the 11 months ending 31 April 2018, NCC said.

The sale comes two months after NCC offloaded its web performance business for £7.5m.