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LONDON (Alliance News) - Avast PLC on Wednesday said it had a "successful" first year as a public company, as the cyber security firm swung to a profit, while also saying its chief executive plans to step down.
Avast shares were trading down 4.7% at 293.35 pence each early Wednesday morning.
It was Avast's first annual results since its May 2018 stock market float and subsequent promotion to the FTSE 250 index.
For 2018, Avast swung to a USD192.5 million profit from a USD28.9 million loss reported in 2017.
This was on the back of revenue rising to USD808.3 million from USD652.9 million, while costs remained broadly stable on the prior year.
Avast declared an 8.6 cents ordinary dividend for the period from May 15 to December 31, in line with its intention at the time of its IPO.
"Looking ahead, we are confident of another good year. Underlying market dynamics remain supportive of Avast's strategy and growth outlook. For the full year 2019 our expectation is high single digit growth for group adjusted revenue, excluding discontinued business and FX, and a stable Ebitda margin percentage," said Chief Executive Vincent Steckler.
Meanwhile, the company also said Steckler is to step down on June 30 as CEO and be replaced by president of the Consumer business, Ondrej Vlcek. The Consumer segment is Avast's largest unit.
Furthermore, Avast appointed Maggie Chan Jones and Tamara Minick-Scokalo as independent non-executive directors, with immediate effect.
Chan Jones is currently the CEO of Tenshey, a leadership development startup to advance gender diversity through executive coaching. She also serves on the board of the Cornell University Johnson Club of New York City.
Minick-Scokalo is an experienced non-executive director with a career spanning over 30 years, Avast said. She currently serves as non-executive director on the boards of PZ Cussons PLC, Amer Sports Corp and OHorizons.
