Avast’s net profit grew by 14.5 percent to $169.8 million in the first half of 2020. The company proposes a provisional dividend payable in October 2020 of 4.8 cents per share, a year-on-year increase of 9.1 percent.
The antivirus software makers operating profit (EBITDA) increased by 2.1 percent to $241.4 million, while revenues rose 1.5 percent to $433.1 million.
The trend of working from home due to coronavirus has led to an increase in demand across the companies product portfolios, including its premium antivirus. The number of paying customers increased by 5.1 percent to 13.26 million in six months. The total number of users of Avast products is 435 million.
“The group’s performance in the first half of the year is the basis for a strong outlook for the full year. We expect organic revenue growth for the full fiscal year 2020 to be at the upper end of the previously announced range of medium percentage units,” said CEO Ondřej Vlček.
Avast’s localization program, which adapts the product and its settings to local preferences, has helped expand its market and reach more customers. It has performed well in target countries worldwide, including Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina in Latin America and Japan. Growth also continues in traditional markets such as the US and the UK.
Avast has also expanded device compatibility with its current and new products. The result has been an increase in sales of licenses for multiple devices.
Avast Secure Browser user activity and search volumes remained strong despite the impact of lower digital advertising. Sales in the indirect distribution segment were supported by the successful extension of the distribution agreement with Google Chrome in March.
Avast was founded in 1988 Eduard Kučera and Pavel Baudiš. In 2016, Avast bought the competing Czech antivirus company AVG. Avast is the second-largest antivirus company in the world after Symantec in terms of sales.