London/Prague, Aug 22 (CTK) – Antivirus software developer Avast, originally a Czech company, raised its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation) by 11 percent to USD222.1m (Kc5bn) in the first half of this year, the company has said.
The result was driven mainly by strong performance in the division of consumer PCs.
Net profit amounted to USD160.2m, compared with a loss of USD51.6m in the same period a year ago.
Revenues adjusted for the influence of exchange rates and sold assets rose by 8.5 percent to USD394.3m.
Revenues in the division of consumer computers grew by 13 percent to USD281m.
When looking into the future, the company believes it can continue pursuing the strategy outlined during its IPO, and it is on the path towards reaching the full-year outlook for a high one-digit growth of revenues and a slight improvement of the EBITDA margin, CEO Vincent Steckler said in a statement sent to CTK.
Avast entered the London Stock Exchange in May. The entire company was evaluated at about Ł2.4bn (Kc69bn).
Avast had originally planned to make an IPO in the United States in 2012 but eventually gave up the plan due to conditions on the market.
Avast employs about 1,600 people worldwide, with around 1,000 of them in the Czech Republic. It has branches in 15 countries, including the USA, Japan and Russia.
In December 2017, Avast’s security products were used by about 435 million customers, with 290 million on PCs and the remainder on mobile devices.
Nearly one half of the users are based in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, while one third comes from the USA.
Avast was set up in 1988 by computer enthusiasts Eduard Kucera and Pavel Baudis. The company was one of the pioneers on the computer security market.
In 2016, Avast bought rival Czech antivirus firm AVG. In terms of sales, Avast is the second biggest antivirus firm in the world after Symantec.