How Leeds software training firm Northcoders has seen its revenue increase

The Leeds-based firm, which listed on the junior market AIM last year, reported a 124 per cent increase in revenue to £3m, up from £1.3m the previous year. While gross profit increased significantly to £2.2m.

Chris Hill, CEO of Northcoders, told The Yorkshire Post: “We’re incredibly proud and happy to have delivered on everything we told investors during our IPO that we were going to do.

“It’s a fantastic start to life on the AIM stock market and a great foundation to build on and do more from this point forward.”

Northcoders enjoyed gross margin growth to 72 per cent, up from 67 per cent the previous year, driven by what it says are cost benefits of its new hybrid model.

The business, which has around 80 staff, previously only provided in-classroom training but following the pandemic it added an online offering to go with face to face teaching.

Northcoders reported that adjusted EBITDA increased to £400,000 from a loss in 2020 of £300,000.

The training provider raised £3.5m at its Initial Public Offering (IPO) last year to accelerate further growth.

Charlotte Harris, chief financial officer at Northcoders, says being on the stock market has enabled it to access the capital it needs to set out on its growth journey.

She said: “We have a growth strategy and are moving geographically into new regions and also expanding our product range.

“We’re in a really comfortable position to be able to attack the market, demand is huge at the minute and we are really confident in our original business model. We just want to be able to teach more students.

“Obviously having a Plc title gives us maybe a bit of a better reputation with the big businesses and big banks.

“On the ground, we really believe in what we have always done. Operationally we have stuck to our proven business model. It just gives us the opportunity to be able to do it on a bigger scale.”

Nortcoders, which works with other businesses to upskill staff, continued to expand its geographic footprint and signed a new lease for a core hub in Leeds alongside its existing Manchester campus.

The business said demand was at record levels as it continued to increase hiring partners to over 315, including new businesses such as NHS Digital, PrettyLittleThing, Informa, AND Digital, Wren Kitchens and Sky Betting & Gaming.

In January 2022, Northcoders extended its contract with the Department for Education giving the business an additional £1.65m of funding for courses to deliver between February and September 2022.

Mr Hill said: “As the need for software and technology skills continues to increase, and digital transformation takes priority for organisations in almost every sector, Northcoders’ market leading reputation is driving demand for our training.

“This, coupled with our extended Government contract, gives us confidence in our ability to fulfil our significant growth ambitions.”