nCipher plc, specialists in protecting critical enterprise data, reported a 15% increase in revenue to £24.2m and a return to profitability in the year to end December 2007.

The group said pre-tax profit reached £3.4m, compared with a loss of £4.7m in 2006. Without the impact of the weaker dollar, revenue would have been 20% higher.

nCipher is a key player in the mix in what has become known as the Cambridge Cluster of high-tech firms, probably the most vibrant high-tech development region in Europe. It has undergone significant change with both founders, brothers Alex and Nico van Someren – who were respectively CEO and CTO – leaving at the end of 2007 the firm they started a decade ago and built into a significant presence in the world market.

New CEO Geoffrey Finlay (pictured) said: "These results … are a testament to the quality of our technology and our people, and are further proof of the benefits of our strategic commitment to invest in maintaining our technological lead.

“We now consider that the global commercial opportunity directly related to the Group's expertise and technologies is both more substantial and growing more rapidly than has previously been predicted.

“We have, therefore, set ourselves the target to double sales over the next three years and are making significant additional investment this year to improve all aspects of our business.”

However, his comments that “profits in calendar 2008 will be substantially reduced by the investment needed to ensure a strong foundation for scaleable future growth of both sales and profits,” hit the Group’s share price, which shed 10% in early trading.

Mr Finlay, who came on board in early December, led a review of nCipher’s operations and markets. One result has been the setting up of a Product Delivery Group to ensure sharper commercial focus; closer link between the operating budget and long term objectives; identification of infrastructure improvements needed to support expansion and additional hires to be recruited.

In conjunction with the new Product Delivery Group, the review concluded that the products and development being undertaken by subsidiary Abridean are no longer strategic to the nCipher’s future and will not be brought to market. As a result Abridean has been put into a care and maintenance mode until potential buyers are identified.

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