Avast sees EBITDA drop by 7.6 pct yr/yr to Kc6bn in H1

Prague, Aug 9 (CTK) - Cybersecurity firm Avast saw its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) drop by 7.6 percent yr/yr to USD249.7m (around Kc6bn) in H1, while its sales rose by 0.2 percent to USD472m (roughly Kc11.3bn), the company said in a press release today.

The organic growth in the volume of billings and profitability level was in line with the outlook, said Avast CEO Ondrej Vlcek.

The billings volume amounted to USD483.7m (around Kc11.6bn) and rose by 0.2 percent at current exchange rates, with organic growth of 6.9 percent, he said.

The consumer segment and the segment of small and medium-sized businesses contributed USD446.7m and USD25.3m, respectively, to the total sales.

The adjusted EBITDA margin decreased to 52.9 percent, affected by high investments in acquiring and retaining customers, in the Digital Trust Services (DTS) segment and in the acquisition of company SecureKey.

Avast announced in March that it was suspending its operations in Russia and Belarus, which will have an impact on slowing down the organic growth in this year's sales. The company focused on offering its integrated solution Avast One, which combines antivirus technology, virtual private network and identity protection features.

In early August, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) provisionally cleared the anticipated acquisition of Avast by US software company NortonLifeLock worth USD8.6bn (Kc208.6bn). CMA will issue its final decision on September 8.

Czech multinational company Avast, set up in 1988, is a trailblazer in cybersecurity. It supplies security programmes for computers and mobile devices and, according to experts, ranks among global leaders in the field.

The company says it employs more than 1,700 people and blocks 1.5 billion cyber attacks each month.

hel/er