Contract wins boost to Wynyard

Haley Van Leeuwen
Haley Van Leeuwen
Recent contract wins by listed security group Wynyard have been positive for the company's shares and reflect recent movements in the security sector in general, Forsyth Barr broker Haley Van Leeuwen says.

Shares in the company soared last week after the Auckland-based company announced it had gained the United Arab Emirates money exchange GCC Exchange as a client for its anti-money-laundering software.

Wynyard shares were trading at $1.19 before the announcement. On Friday, they closed on $1.82, an increase of 53% in four days.

Wynyard estimates the size of its potential global market has grown from $US300 million ($NZ364 million) in 2011 to $US5.3 billion in 2013 as it added government intelligence software to its suite of products targeting financial crime.

The latest contract adds to overseas deals the company signed with the Thai Customers Department, Manayer Marketing Management and Galadari Brothers in the past two months.

Mrs Van Leeuwen said the market seemed to be picking Wynyard up and assigning a future value to it.

''It's no secret compliance and security are becoming big themes in business across the world. Fifteen years ago, cyber threat wasn't nearly as significant as what we are seeing now and we're not just talking email scams from Nigeria.''

Other recent movements in the security included the Nasdaq-listed FireEye buying security technology company Mandiant for $US1 billion.

Mandiant managed cybersecurity and claimed the Chinese Government was sponsoring hacking of other government and corporate sites. That was noted as one example of an expected trend for consolidation in the technology market.

Palantir, a direct competitor of of Wynyard, was a privately-owned company best known for its link to the United States government data ''spying scandal'', Mrs Van Leeuwen said.

However, it had a significant list of both corporate and government clients and generated estimated sales of $US450 million in 2013.

 

Add a Comment