Northcoders Flexes Its Coding Muscles With Record FY24 Performance
Let’s cut to the chase: when a company grows revenue by 24% while swinging from a £1m loss to £400k profit in 12 months, you pay attention. Northcoders’ latest results aren’t just good – they’re the kind of numbers that make other AIM-listed edtech firms reach for the smelling salts.
The Numbers That Matter
Here’s where the rubber meets the road:
- 🚀 £8.8m revenue (up from £7.1m) – proving tech education isn’t just ‘recession-resistant’, it’s recession-defiant
- 📈 67% gross margins – because scaling edtech right means keeping the unit economics tight
- 💷 Positive EPS of 4.85p – a 17.5p swing from last year’s -12.62p loss
But the real story? They’ve trained nearly 4,000 students while increasing tutor efficiency. That’s like teaching someone to fish while simultaneously inventing a better fishing rod.
The Secret Sauce: NCore Platform
Northcoders’ proprietary NCore isn’t just tech jargon – it’s the engine driving their 34% gross profit jump. This platform allows:
- Higher student-tutor ratios without sacrificing contact time
- Seamless delivery of new courses (Java and C# launched this year)
- Scalability that’s already supporting Scottish expansion
As CEO Chris Hill puts it: “We’re not just coding bootcamps – we’re building Britain’s digital skills infrastructure.” Bold words, but with 510 hiring partners (including fresh wins with Skipton Building Society and Manchester Airports Group), they’re walking the talk.
Consultancy Arm Counter®: The Dark Horse
While bootcamps grab headlines, Counter®’s quietly becoming the B2B powerhouse:
- £900k revenue in FY24 – small but growing fast
- New G-Cloud 14 framework status opens public sector floodgates
- Nearshore pricing model undercutting traditional consultancies
With three post-period contract wins, this could be Northcoders’ margin-boosting golden goose.
The AI Play You Can’t Ignore
June 2025 sees their new AI/Machine Learning bootcamp launch – timing it perfectly with:
- UK’s £100m+ AI upskilling push
- Massive corporate demand for LLM-literate engineers
- Existing DfE funding running through June 2025
This isn’t just jumping on the AI bandwagon – it’s building the damn wagon while it’s moving.
Risks? Let’s Keep It Real
No analysis is complete without the red flags:
- 🤑 Cash position dipped to £1.2m (FY23: £1.6m) – though new £1.5m debt facility helps
- 🏛️ DfE contract renewal uncertainty post-June 2025
- 👩💻 Tech hiring market still softer than pre-2022 levels
But with 67% of graduates employed within six months (at average salaries proving resilient), the fundamentals stack up.
The Bottom Line
Northcoders isn’t just surviving the ‘tech winter’ – they’re using it to build igloos. Between Counter’s consultancy growth, government partnerships, and that juicy new AI course pipeline, this could be the UK’s answer to Codecademy meets Accenture.
As the Chair’s statement notes: “We’ve changed 4,000 lives while building a sustainable business.” In today’s market, that combination of purpose and profit isn’t just nice – it’s necessary.
One to watch? You bet your last Python script it is.
