LONDON, Feb. 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Avast plc, together with its subsidiaries ('Avast', 'the Group' or 'the Company'), a leading global cybersecurity provider, announces its results for the year ended 31 December 2021.
The Group delivered another strong year of top line organic growth, high levels of profitability and cash flow generation.
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
● |
Billings at $948.4m up 2.9% at actual rates, with organic growth1 of 4.3% |
● |
Revenue at $941.1m up 5.4% at actual rates, with organic growth of 7.5% |
● |
Consumer Direct Revenue at $811.2m, up 11.1% at actual rates, with organic growth of 9.4% |
● |
Adjusted EBITDA up 4.5% to $517.6m; Adjusted EBITDA margin2 at 55.0%, down 50bps |
● |
Adjusted fully diluted earnings per share ('EPS') up 7.8% to $0.37 (versus $0.35 at YE 2020) |
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Continued strong cash generation with Unlevered Free Cash Flow up 5.8% to $477.4m and Levered Free Cash Flow up 8.6% to $450.1m |
● |
Resilient balance sheet with $469.0m of cash and available liquidity3. Net debt / LTM ('last twelve months') Adjusted EBITDA at 0.8x at year end |
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On a statutory basis, Revenue up from $892.9m to $941.1m, Operating profit increased from $335.4m to $394.6m, cash flows from operating activities increased from $456.5m to $469.4m, fully diluted EPS increased from $0.16 to $0.34 mainly due to significant unrealised FX gain arising from Euro denominated loan and lower amortisation of acquisition intangibles |
OPERATIONAL AND STRATEGIC HIGHLIGHTS
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Consumer Direct operating KPIs tracked positively. Average Revenue Per Customer ('ARPC')4 increased 8.4% to $49.44. Average Products Per Customer ('APPC')5 increased 1.8% to 1.43. Whilst customer numbers have increased in some geographies, the End of period customers6 remained broadly flat versus prior year at 16.36m. This reflects the emphasis on ARPC growth during the period and transition to the new model of customer proposition providing all-in-one functionality under Avast One subscription. This limits the cross-sell opportunity and puts focus on customer retention. |
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There was continued successful execution on the global growth strategy, with increases in customer numbers in target underpenetrated countries, showing double-digit growth. |
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In September, Avast successfully launched its new innovative integrated solution Avast One, which provides customers with integrated security, privacy and performance solution. It combines (1) security: the company's award-winning antivirus technology; (2) privacy: extensive protection in the form of a Virtual Private Network for regular browsing use, and identity protection through our data breach monitoring service; and (3) performance: firewall and software updater feature to protect people from using outdated software and supply chain attacks. |
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Avast's new brand identity and expanded purpose to protect digital freedom for all online citizens was unveiled in September. Avast reinvigorated its commitment to furthering digital rights, especially in the critical area of privacy, with a new digital freedom strategy that includes policymaker engagement, philanthropy, and innovation. |
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Following the appointment of a new Senior Vice President and GM of Identity, Charles Walton in H1, the Group announced the acquisition of Evernym in December for the consideration of $50m. The US company was instrumental to the invention of a digital identity technique (self-sovereign identity), which supports a user-controlled wallet of digital credentials such as a digital passport, driver's license, travel, and other credentials. This has enabled the development of innovative products and services based on decentralised digital credentials, leading to a more trustworthy online experience. |
($'m) |
FY 2021 |
FY 2020 |
Change % |
Change % |
Billings |
948.4 |
922.0 |
2.9 |
1.0 |
Acquisitions |
0.1 |
- |
n/a |
n/a |
Disposal Family Safety mobile business 8 |
- |
27.0 |
n/a |
n/a |
Discontinued Business9 |
2.2 |
4.2 |
(47.7) |
(48.4) |
Billings excl. Acquisitions, Disposal and Discontinued business |
946.1 |
890.8 |
6.2 |
4.3 |
($'m) |
FY 2021 |
FY 2020 |
Change % |
Change % |
Revenue |
941.1 |
892.9 |
5.4 |
3.9 |
Acquisitions |
0.1 |
- |
n/a |
n/a |
Disposal Family Safety mobile business |
- |
27.0 |
n/a |
n/a |
Discontinued Business |
2.2 |
5.1 |
(56.9) |
(57.4) |
Revenue excl. Acquisitions, Disposal and Discontinued business |
938.8 |
860.7 |
9.1 |
7.5 |
($'m) |
FY 2021 |
FY 2020 |
Change % |
||
Adjusted EBITDA |
517.6 |
495.5 |
4.5 |
||
Adjusted EBITDA Margin % |
55.0 |
55.5 |
0.5 ppts |
||
Adjusted Net Income |
389.4 |
360.2 |
8.1 |
||
Net Debt |
412.5 |
725.6 |
(43.1) |
||
Statutory Results: |
|||||
($'m) |
FY 2021 |
FY 2020 |
Change %10 |
||
Revenue |
941.1 |
892.9 |
5.4 |
||
Operating profit |
394.6 |
335.4 |
17.7 |
||
Net Income |
348.4 |
169.6 |
Fav |
||
Net Cash Flows from operating activities |
469.4 |
456.5 |
2.8 |
||
1 |
Organic growth rate excludes the impact of FX, acquisitions, business disposals and discontinued business. As such, organic revenue refers to revenue normalised as described here. |
2 |
Adjusted EBITDA margin percentage is defined as Adjusted EBITDA divided by Revenue. |
3 |
Total available liquidity includes cash and cash equivalents balance as at 31 December 2021 of $429.0m and revolving credit facility of $40.0m (not drawn at 31 December 2021). |
4 |
ARPC defined as the Consumer Direct revenue for the period of the last twelve months divided by the simple average number of Customers during the same period. |
5 |
APPC defined as the Consumer Direct simple average valid licences or subscriptions for the financial period presented divided by the simple average number of Customers during the same period. |
6 |
Users who have at least one valid paid Consumer Direct subscription (or licence) at the end of the period. |
7 |
Growth rate excluding currency impact calculated by restating 2021 actual to 2020 FX rates (see 'Principal exchange rates applied'). Deferred revenue is translated to USD at the date of invoice and is therefore excluded when calculating the impact of FX on revenue. |
8 |
On April 16, 2021 the Group sold a portfolio of mobile parental controls services including location features, content filtering and screen time management to Smith Micro Software Inc ('Family Safety mobile business'). |
In the year ended 31 December 2020 the asset generated less than $40m of revenue (USD million) with a materially lower margin profile than the Group. Billings and revenue until close of the transaction have been included in the calculation of organic growth together with comparable periods in the baseline. |
|
9 |
In January 2020 Avast decided to terminate the provision of anonymized data to its data analytics business, Jumpshot, having concluded that the business was not consistent long term with the Group's privacy priorities as a global cybersecurity company. As the company is also exiting its toolbar-related search distribution business (which had previously been an important contributor to AVG's revenues) and the browser clean-up business, the growth figures exclude all of these (referred to above and throughout the report as "Discontinued Business"), which are negligible. The Discontinued Business does not represent a discontinued operation as defined by IFRS 5 since it either has not been disposed of but rather it is being continuously scaled down or it is considered to be neither a separate major line of business, nor geographical area of operations. |
10 |
'Fav' in change % represents a favourable growth rate figure over 100 per cent, 'Unf' represents an unfavourable decline greater than negative 100 percent. |
RECOMMENDED MERGER OF AVAST PLC WITH NORTONLIFELOCK INC.
On 10 August 2021, the Boards of Avast plc and NortonLifeLock Inc. ('NortonLifeLock') announced that they had agreed the terms of a recommended Merger of Avast with NortonLifeLock, in the form of a recommended offer by Nitro Bidco Limited ('Bidco'), a wholly-owned subsidiary of NortonLifeLock, for the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of the Company (the 'Merger'). The Merger is proposed to be effected by means of a Court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act (the 'Scheme'), and is subject to the terms and conditions set out in the scheme document that was published on 28 October 2021 (the 'Scheme Document'). The requisite approvals of NortonLifeLock's and Avast's shareholders were obtained on 4 November 2021 and 18 November 2021 respectively. The Scheme is subject to the sanction by the Court and the satisfaction (or, where applicable, the waiver) of the antitrust and regulatory conditions that have not yet been satisfied or waived as set out in the Scheme Document (the 'Regulatory Conditions').
In the Scheme Document, the parties stated that they expected the Scheme to become effective in mid-2022. However, on 4 February 2022, NortonLifeLock and Avast announced a revised timetable for the Merger, with an effective date of 24 February 2022 (subject to the sanction by the Court and the satisfaction (or, where applicable, the waiver) of the Regulatory Conditions. On 18 February 2022, NortonLifeLock determined that it was appropriate to postpone the effective date of the Merger and announced that they expected (subject to the satisfaction or, where applicable, waiver) by NortonLifeLock of each of the Regulatory Conditions that have not yet been satisfied or waived, the effective date to be 4 April 2022.
PUBLICATION OF ANNUAL REPORT
The Company intends to publish its Annual Report and Accounts 2021 at a later date to be announced in due course. Once published, this document will be available to view on the Company website at https://investors.avast.com and, if applicable, will be submitted to the National Storage Mechanism for inspection at www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/nsm.
ENQUIRIES
Investors and analysts:
Kalli Bowyer
Anca Timpescu
IR@avast.com
Media:
Stephanie Kane, VP PR and Corporate Communications
mediarelations@avast.com
Tavistock
+44 20 7920 3150
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