5th Jul 2018 08:41
LONDON (Alliance News) - Shares in Sophos Group PLC plummeted Thursday morning as the cyber security company saw lower than anticipated billings growth in the first quarter.
Shares in FTSE 250-listed Sophos were down 23% at 476.60 pence each on Thursday - having dipped as low as 431.00p earlier in the session - making it the worst performer in the index.
The company reported billings growth of 6%, up 2% at constant currency, for the quarter ended June. Sophos said it had a "strong performance" in revenue and cash flow, and expects to report mid-teens growth in new customer and network security billings in the period.
According to Sophos, the lower billings were driven by its Enduser security business, which faced a "particularly challenging comparable". Underlying Enduser billings growth in the first quarter of the previous financial year was "in excess" of 50% at constant currency.
The "significant increase" in demand for the company's Endpoint protection in the first half of last year was driven by high-profile global ransomware attacks, such as WannaCry. Sophos' "next-generation endpoint solution", Intercept X, was also introduced in the first half of the previous financial year's billings for the first time.
The company warned that these factors will also apply to the second quarter of the current financial year as well.
"As the prior-year comparators normalise, we expect a return to mid-teens constant currency billings growth in the second half of the year," said Sophos, adding that its long-term outlook remains unchanged.
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