Prior to publication, the information contained within this announcement was deemed by the Company to constitute inside information for the purposes of Article 7 under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR"). With the publication of this announcement, this information is now considered to be in the public domain.

26 January 2022

ECSC Group plc

('ECSC' or the 'Company' or the 'Group')

Trading Update

for the 12 months ended 31 December 2021

Increased Revenue and New Growth Loan

ECSC Group plc (AIM: ECSC), the provider of cyber security services, is pleased to announce an unaudited trading update for the twelve months ended 31 December 2021.

Highlights:

·    Group revenue growth up 8% to £6.14m (2020: £5.66m)

·    Assurance division revenue growth up 15% to £3.12m (2020: £2.72m)

·    Managed Detection & Response ("MDR") division recurring revenue growth up 7% to £2.59m (2020: £2.42m)

·    Positive adjusted EBITDA* for the year

·    Agreed a new £1.0m loan

·    Cash at the period end was £1.17m, including new £1.0m loan and £0.02m of Covid-19 related government support (31 December 2020: £1.12m, including £0.42m of Covid-19 related government support).

* Adjusted EBITDA is defined as Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation and excludes one-off charges and share based charges

Prior to the period end, ECSC entered a five-year £1.0m loan agreement with BOOST&Co to provide additional funding to support the Group's overall organic growth plans. The loan is secured over the Group's assets and attracts interest at 9% per annum. The loan agreement includes the option for the Company to increase the size of the loan to £1.5m.

Ian Mann, Chief Executive Officer of ECSC, commented:

"We are delighted to report growth across both our MDR and Assurance divisions, which is a testament to the continued efforts and expertise of the team.

"We are also pleased to have secured the new loan which will assist us in pursuing our growth plans.  

"Cyber security continues to be a key priority for all businesses, with most now recognising the importance in investing in key solutions in order to avoid costly breaches and disruptive down time."

Enquiries:

Notes to Editors:

Founded in 2000, ECSC Group plc (AIM: ECSC) is the UK's longest running full-service cyber security service provider. With an extensive range of in-house developed proprietary technologies, including advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, ECSC provides expert security breach prevention and advisory support to organisations across all sectors.

ECSC operates from two Security Operations Centres (SOCs): one in Yorkshire, UK, and the other in Brisbane, Australia.  ECSC offers flexible 24/7/365 cyber security monitoring, detection, and response support to its clients, either as a fully managed service or to enhance an organisation's existing cyber security systems.  In addition, ECSC's Assurance division provides guidance, certification to industry standards, and extensive testing services to allow organisations to assess their cyber security protection.

ECSC is led by a highly experienced senior management team with over 80 years' combined experience within the company, and has delivered consecutive organic growth for the last 20 years.

The Company's broad client base ranges from e-commerce start-ups to global blue-chip organisations, including 10% of the FTSE 100.

For more information, please visit the following: https://investor.ecsc.co.uk/