20th Oct 2021 08:36
(Alliance News) - Cybersecurity firm Avast PLC on Wednesday backed its outlook as it reported third-quarter earnings growth ahead of the Prague-based firm's acquisition by US peer NortonLifelock Inc.
Revenue for the three months to September 30 rose 3.0% to USD232.7 million from GBP226.0 million posted for the third quarter of 2020, and was up 5.6% on an organic basis. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation edged up 0.8% year-on-year to USD127.0 million.
"Billings growth accelerated through the quarter, and we expect second-half billings growth of mid to high single digits," the company said.
Avast noted that its core Consumer Direct business performed broadly in line with expectations during the quarter as its other segments saw more muted billings growth.
"While we continue to see competitive pressures on customer acquisition, as previously indicated a number of initiatives are underway to drive customer engagement, acquisition and retention, including the rollout of our flagship Avast One platform, which commenced during the quarter," the company said in its statement Wednesday.
For the first nine months of 2021, revenue increased by 6.8% to USD704.0 million from USD659.1 million posted a year ago. It was up by 8.8% on an organic basis. For the year to date, adjusted Ebitda rose 8.1% to USD397.1 million, resulting in an adjusted Ebitda margin year to date of 56.4%.
Avast reaffirmed its full-year outlook for revenue to be at the upper end of 6% to 8% growth, and a broadly flat adjusted Ebitda margin percentage.
Avast didn't comment on its impending acquisition by NortonLifelock other than saying that its forecast doesn't include transaction costs or accounting impacts from the merger.
In August, Avast agreed to be bought by Tempe, Arizona-based NortonLifeLock in a deal worth about USD8.6 billion. For each Avast share, the offer is USD2.37 in cash, plus 0.1937 of a NortonLifeLock share.
The FTSE 100 stock was trading 0.7% higher on Wednesday morning in London at 565.41 pence a share, giving Avast a market capitalisation of about GBP5.84 billion.
By Evelina Grecenko; [email protected]
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