9th Aug 2022 08:46
(Alliance News) - Avast PLC on Tuesday reported "stable" growth in the first half of the year, in line with expectations, despite a fall in interim profit.
For the six months that ended on June 30, the Prague-based cybersecurity firm booked revenue of USD472.0 million, up marginally by 0.1% from USD471.3 million a year earlier.
Avast said its Consumer Direct business performed broadly in line with expectations during the period, with adjusted revenue of USD407.1 million, up 1.4% from USD401.6 million a year earlier.
Pretax profit, however, fell by 15% to USD213.9 million from USD251.5 million a year earlier. Operating costs increased by 12% to USD160.5 million from USD143.6 million.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation amounted to USD249.7 million, down 7.6% from USD270.3 million a year earlier, resulting in an adjusted Ebitda margin of 52.9%. This is compared to 57.3% a year ago.
"The decrease in Ebitda margin was primarily driven by investment in commercial initiatives and Digital Trust Services," Avast explained.
Avast said it believed to be in the group's best interest to declare an interim dividend of 4.8 cents per share, conditional on the proposed merger with NortonLifeLock Inc not having become effective before August 11.
In a deal announced back in August last year, the Tempe, Arizona-based NortonLifeLock, which offers cyber safety software to consumers, had agreed to buy Avast in a cash-and-shares deal worth USD8.6 billion at the time. The takeover is expected to close on September 12.
Avast said it is not providing any forward guidance at this time. But it says it has achieved stable growth and maintained good levels of profitability in line with expectations during the first half of 2022.
Shares were up 0.2% at GBP682.00 pence each on Tuesday morning in London.
By Xindi Wei; [email protected]
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