Last year, antivirus company Avast’s operating EBITDA increased by 2.6 percent to $ 495.5 million, or about 10.75 billion crowns. Adjusted net profit rose 11.8 percent to $ 360.2 million, or about $ 7.8 billion. Revenues increased by 2.3 percent to $ 892.9 million, or about 19.4 billion crowns.
The company proposes a final dividend payable in June of 11.2 cents per share. The total dividend for last year would be 16 cents, which represents a year-on-year growth of 8.8 percent.
The driving force behind growth was the main consumer segment, which accounted for 78 percent of the company’s sales. The number of paying desktop customers increased by 7.9 percent to 13.6 million. For example, in the US, the number of customers grew by six percent, in Italy by 13 percent, in Mexico by 33 percent and in Russia by six percent.
“We continue to make effective use of the scope and sophistication of our platform in the consumer and SME market. In 2021, we expect organic sales growth in the range of six to eight percent, supported by strong growth in invoicing in the previous year, “said CEO Ondřej Vlček.
The company expects the adjusted EBITDA margin of the group to remain more or less the same compared to 2020, despite the increase in operating costs in connection with the planned migration from corporate systems to the cloud and in connection with higher wage inflation. Avast should maintain strong cash flow due to lower capital expenditures and reduced interest expenses.
Avast was founded in 1988 by Czech researchers Eduard Kučera and Pavel Baudiš, the company is one of the pioneers in the field of computer security. 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.