When even a well run, well funded, well positioned business such as GB Group is noticing the effects of the Covid-19 outbreak, you know that few, if any, companies are truly immune from the virus’s potential ripple effects on the wider economy.
However, the business remains a powerful player in what must surely be the growth industry of cybersecurity and, as a result, risk-tolerant growth seekers can permit themselves to take a long-term view and keep the stock on their side.
A trading update last month showed that GB Group had beaten analysts’ forecasts for the fiscal year that ended in March, as sales and operating profits reached new record levels. However, the company did see an impact on its Chinese business in January and February and, although the operation there has started to emerge from shutdown, the firm has begun to feel the effects elsewhere.
Even if gaming may remain relatively resilient, other customer sectors such as travel, leisure and retail are clearly suffering a downturn in trading, and that is likely to filter through to GB’s sales and profits.
Visibility is not what it would normally be, and Chris Clark, the chief executive, is understandably fighting shy of making anything that could be misconstrued as a profit forecast for the new fiscal year, which runs to March 2021.