Softcat has seen strong growth in its security business in the backdrop of numerous high-profile cyber attacks and as companies prepare themselves ahead of the European Union's new data protection law.

Shares of the IT infrastructure and service provider have sprung nearly 50 percent this year.

"Market conditions have been very favourable and growth against (the) prior year has accelerated," the company said in a trading update.

Softcat's upbeat comments led analysts at Jefferies to raise their price target on the stock to 760 pence from 725 pence.

Investec Securities analysts also read positively into Softcat's update and said full-year profit would be about 10 percent ahead of consensus, with very strong fourth-quarter performance.

(Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru; editing by Patrick Graham, Amrutha Gayathri)