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| Danish tests of IT security are selling like hotcakes abroad. FortConsult's international sales grew by 70 percent between 2008 and 2009, and the firm now has a foothold in Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Portugal. The first FortConsult office in Europe is expected to become a reality within the foreseeable future. |
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| From a humble office on Nørrebro in Copenhagen, Denmark's biggest firm in the field of security testing and credit card security sells its services to some of Europe's most security-conscious business enterprises, including a number of leading financial enterprises. Portugal, Norway, Sweden and Iceland are currently the most successful markets outside Denmark, and FortConsult is aiming to realise sales to 17 different countries from its premises on Nørrebro. |
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| - We are proud and happy to have received such a positive reception abroad. We see it as solid proof that our penetration tests and services to the financial sector are highly regarded internationally, says Managing Director Ulf Munkedal from FortConsult, which within a short space of time has achieved a position as one of the three biggest firms within the areas of penetration testing and credit card security in Europe. |
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| FortConsult's international sales grew by 70 percent between 2008 and 2009, and in the first five months of this year FortConsult has already sold as much abroad as it did throughout the whole of 2009. |
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| FortConsult is already a market leader in Denmark with a clientele consisting of some of the country's biggest businesses and the financial sector. Internationalisation is therefore a logical means of growth for FortConsult. |
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| Although we have modest Danish roots, our goal is to become the preferred supplier of security tests throughout the whole of Europe, says Ulf Munkedal. We have drawn up a plan to test 17 markets over a period of 12 months, and so far we have far outstripped expectations. Ulf Munkedal predicts that FortConsult will open offices or enter into partnerships in several European countries during the course of the next 24 months. |
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Growth on the top and bottom line
FortConsult has generally not experienced any problems related to the economic recession, and the firm is able to present its best results ever. The security firm came out of 2009 with a turnover of DKK 26.9 million, which represents a growth of 30 percent in relation to 2008. Pre-tax profits were DKK 4.0 million in spite of heavy investment in internationalisation, a result which Ulf Munkedal describes as "satisfactory". |
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| In April, FortConsult concluded a worldwide agreement with IKEA, which was looking for a security partner to audit credit card security on a global scale. In Germany Siemens chose FortConsult as its external provider of security tests on web applications at Siemens companies in a number of countries in Europe. This took place following a thorough review and approval of FortConsult's test methods by Siemens' own CERT organisation in Germany. In addition, Nordea and British American Tobacco are important international customers. |
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Hackers in the service of the greater good
FortConsult employs a number of consultants who act as hackers in the service of the greater good. Customers are typically major enterprises who hire the Danish firm to attempt to hack into their IT installations from outside. FortConsult's consultants combine the hacker's equilibristic methods with a structured and proven approach, such that customers can be sure of an exhaustive and objective product when they employ security tests from FortConsult. FortConsult's 30 employees include security test experts from Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa and Greece. |
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| FortConsult - in DKK mill. | 2009 | 2008 |
| Gross profits | 22.5 | 17.1 |
| Profit on main activities | 3.8 | 1.8 |
| Profit before tax | 4.0 | 1.4 |
| Profit for the year | 2.9 | 1.0 |
| No. of employees, start of year | 27 | 24 |
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