# Avast PLC First half performance underpins strong full year outlook

- Link: https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/avast-plc-first-half-performance-underpins-strong-full-year-outlook/412790394
- Published: 2019-08-14T07:38:01+01:00
- Author: Amilia Stone

**[Avast PLC](https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/ftse-company/avast-plc/avst.l)**(
LON:AVST), together with its subsidiaries, a leading global cybersecurity provider,
today announced its results for the six-months ended 30 June 2019.

**FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS**

· Strong overall performance in line with expectations

· Adjusted Billings excluding FX1, Discontinued Business2 and disposal of the Managed
Workplace business3 up 12.5%, 9.2% in actual rates to $454.6m

· Adjusted Revenue excluding FX, Discontinued Business and disposal of the Managed
Workplace business up 9.2%, 8.3% in actual rates to $421.7m

· Adjusted Revenue in Consumer Direct Desktop excluding FX up 10.5%, 9.5% in actual
rates to $307.6m

· Adjusted EBITDA up 6.5% to $236.5m; Adjusted EBITDA margin4 at 55.4%, up 36bps

· Adjusted fully diluted earnings per share (‘EPS’) $0.15 (versus $0.14 at HY 2018)

· Proposed interim dividend payable in October 2019 of 4.4 cents per share

· Continued strong cash generation with Unlevered Free Cash Flow up 20.0% to $230.4m
and Levered Free Cash Flow up 29.9% to $200.2m

· Net debt / LTM (‘last twelve months’) Adjusted EBITDA at 2.4x at half year

· On a statutory basis, Revenue up from $388.6m to $425.4m, Operating profit up 
from $109.7m to $161.9m, fully diluted EPS at $0.11.

**OPERATIONAL AND STRATEGIC HIGHLIGHTS**

· Desktop operating KPI’s tracked positively, with customers5 up 1.8% to 12.41m,
APPC6 up 2.3% to 1.43 and ARPC7 2.3% to $50.38

· The core Consumer Direct Desktop business continued to power the Group’s performance.
Strong growth was driven from the cross-selling of Privacy products such as VPN 
and AntiTrack, and Performance products such as Cleanup and Driver Updater

· Growth to customer numbers and penetration has been delivered in both traditional
territories and new target countries, with localisation of more products, sales 
flows and partnerships

· Traditional AV has benefited from the further optimisation of comprehensive Smart
Scans to support up-selling

· Avast’s Internet of Things (‘IoT’) project reached two important milestones: in
the period, the carrier-based solution went live with the operator WindTre in Italy;
in July, the direct-to-consumer product ‘Omni’ was released to Avast users in the
US market

· A strategic partnership for the analytics business Jumpshot was announced in July
to help capture additional growth opportunities

> **Ondrej Vlcek, Chief Executive of Avast, said**:
> “We are pleased to report a strong set of group results for the first half of 
> 2019, in line with the Board’s expectations. Group Adjusted Revenue increased 
> by 9.2% on a like-for-like basis, driven by double-digit growth in our Consumer
> Direct Desktop business. We also sustained high levels of profitability with Adjusted
> EBITDA margin at 55.4%.
> “The strategic advantage of our global consumer platform model shows clearly in
> these results, with strong revenue growth driven by cross-sell promotions within
> the installed user base. I am delighted to see Avast reap the benefit of its investment
> in innovation and the customer experience. Strong demand for Avast’s value-added
> solutions, such as VPN, Utilities and AntiTrack, has been accompanied by a resilient
> performance from our traditional anti-virus products. While the mobile carrier
> channel was below our expectations, elsewhere in the consumer business there was
> good momentum in both customer conversion and retention rates.
> “Avast reached an important strategic milestone in the first half of 2019 with
> the release of direct-to-consumer and carrier-based IoT solutions. Using cutting-
> edge technology, these products will protect users’ entire digital lives. We are
> very excited about the opportunity ahead.
> “The Group’s first half performance underpins a strong full year outlook. We now
> expect like-for-like FY2019 revenue growth to be at the upper end of the previously
> stated high single-digit percentage range.”

**PRESENTATION OF RESULTS**

There will be a live webcast presentation and conference call of the results to 
analysts and investors at 9:00 AM BST today (14 August 2019). Please register to
participation at the Avast website https://investors.avast.com. A Q&A facility will
be available for conference call participants.

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