(Alliance News) - Antivirus software firm Avast PLC on Wednesday reported resilient first-half results against a strong set of comparatives as its takeover by NortonLifeLock Inc approaches.
FTSE 100-listed Avast said that, for the six months ended June 30, revenue rose 8.8% to USD471.3 million from USD433.1 million the year before.
The Prague-based company said its pretax profit hit USD269.3 million in the first half, more than double the USD115.3 million taken the previous year.
Billings reached USD482.7 million, up 2.9% year-on-year from USD469.1 million.
Customer numbers also increased, rising 1.5% to 16.7 million in the first half. Meanwhile, average revenue per customer grew by 4.4% to USD47.61 as average products per customer rose 0.8% to 1.42 each.
Avast declared an interim dividend of 4.8 cents per share, due in October.
"We are optimistic about Avast's prospects for the second half of the year, and as comparator period trends start to normalise, we anticipate a re-acceleration of billings growth," said Chief Executive Officer Ondrej Vlcek.
"The launch of our new flagship Avast One product remains on track for later this year. Our focus remains on driving customer engagement, acquisition and retention, which will require higher levels of margin investment in [research and development], innovation and marketing over the medium term," Vlcek added.
US cybersecurity firm NortonLifeLock said it agreed with Avast on the terms of a merger on Tuesday.
The deal is in the form of a cash and share takeover offer by Norton for Avast.
Under the terms of the merger, Avast shareholders will be entitled to receive a combination of cash and newly issued shares in Norton. For each Avast share, the offer is USD2.37 in cash, plus 0.1937 of a NortonLifeLock share, making the offer value 31% in cash and 69% in shares.
Based on NortonLifeLock's closing share price of USD27.20 on July 13, being the last trading day for NortonLifeLock shares before combination talks were revealed on July 14, the merger values Avast between USD8.1 billion and USD8.6 billion, depending on Avast shareholders' elections.
The offer values each Avast share at 608.40 pence. They were trading up 3.4% at 587.80 pence each in London on Wednesday morning, while NortonLifeLock shares closed at USD24.15 in New York on Tuesday, up 1.1%. They added 4.8% to USD25.30 in after-hours trade.
NortonLifeLock, which was formerly known as Symantec, said it and Avast believe that the merger has "compelling strategic and financial rationale and represents an attractive opportunity to create a new, industry-leading consumer cyber safety business".
By Scarlett Butler; scarlettbutler@alliancenews.com
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