Sophos Group plc is a security software and hardware company. Sophos develops products for communication endpoint, encryption, network security, email security and mobile security as well as unified threat management. Sophos is focused on providing security software to organizations, businesses, and individual users. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Admission to trading on the London Stock Exchange 1 July 2015
LSE: SOPH

Notice of Interim Results
RNS
RNS Number : 6566C
Sophos Group Plc
19 October 2015







Sophos Group plc

Notice of Interim Results





Sophos Group plc (LSE:SOPH), a leading global provider of cloud-enabled enduser and network security solutions, will be issuing its Interim Results for the six-months ended 30 September 2015 at 7am GMT on Wednesday 11 November 2015.



A presentation to analysts and investors hosted by Kris Hagerman, Chief Executive Officer, and Nick Bray, Chief Financial Officer, will be held at 9.30am GMT on 11 November 2015 at 18 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3ED. The webcast and dial-in facility will be provided on the day.

- ENDS -

share of the week stampede into sophos

3 Nov Peel Hunt 330.00 Buy

Cybersecurity is going to be even bigger business in the future after the furore surrounding the TalkTalk hack recently.

That’s the view of broker Peel Hunt, which has put forward its view on how investors should best play the trend.



microfocus-and-sophos-among-peel-hunt-s-cybersecurity-winners

5 Nov Liberum Capital 290.00 Buy

Sept 2015, FY interim results ]

· H1 like-for-like billings growth of 24.2 percent year-over-year ("YOY") with growth across all major regions and product categories

· Reported billings grew 12.8 percent YOY, reflecting significant currency headwinds including the devaluation of the Euro and Sterling against the US Dollar

· Billings growth driven by both strong new customer wins and an improvement in the retention rate of existing customers

· Reported revenue up 8.9 percent YOY, estimated 17 percent YOY growth at constant currency

· Twelve months to September weighted average contract length6 consistent YOY at 27.9 months

· Reported Cash EBITDA up 8.9 percent, 23.0 percent YOY growth at constant currency

· Operating (Loss) / Profit lower YOY mainly reflecting $17.6 million of exceptional items connected with the Group's initial public offering of shares and a YOY variance in unrealised foreign exchange gains of $7.6 million

· Unlevered Free Cash Flow lower YOY due to phasing of capital expenditure, but above internal expectations

· Net Cash Flow from Operating Activities lower YOY mainly reflecting the $17.6 million of costs incurred on the Group's initial public offering of shares

· Interim dividend of 0.7 US cents per share; the Group is targeting a full year dividend payment of 20 percent of free cash flow



Operational Highlights

· Continued market share gains as Sophos outperformed industry market growth rates in both network security and enduser security

· Robust product delivery in H1 of new products and major version and feature upgrades across the Group's network and enduser security portfolio, as well as adding support for the latest operating system versions of Windows, Mac, Android and iOS

· Early November release of Sophos XG Firewall delivering a Unified Threat Management ("UTM") / Next Generation Firewall product that combines the best of Sophos and Cyberoam; and delivery of Sophos Security Heartbeat™, part f our synchronized security strategy (Project Galileo) to actively share valuable security intelligence between Sophos endpoint and network security products.

· Drove increased brand awareness via continued channel-oriented sales and marketing events, social media initiatives, and extension of Sophos' successful free tools program, including releasing a free Linux server protection pool and a public beta of Sophos Home, a cloud-managed, easy-to-use, no-hassles anti-malware and web filtering solution for PCs and Macs that will be free for home users and families

· Acquired Reflexion Networks Inc., a SaaS-based offering providing security, archiving, encryption and business continuity for email, adding more than 17,000 customers and over 2,200 partners/ managed service providers ("MSPs") to the Sophos ecosystem

· Placed in the "Leaders" quadrant for both UTM and Mobile data protection in latest Gartner Magic Quadrant reports

· Finished first in all three security-related categories, Client Security Software, Network Security Appliances, and Network Security Software, at the Computer Reseller News (CRN) Annual Report Card (ARC) awards for the second straight year

11 Nov Peel Hunt 330.00 Buy
11 Nov Liberum Capital 290.00 Buy

12 Nov JP Morgan... 330.00 Overweight

/share-week%3A-second-leg-sophos-rally

Sophos Acquires SurfRight
RNS
RNS Number : 9736I
Sophos Group Plc
14 December 2015



Sophos Acquires SurfRight to Strengthen and Accelerate

Next-Generation Endpoint Protection Leadership



Oxford, UK. Dec. 14, 2015 - Sophos (LSE: SOPH), a global leader in network and endpoint security, today announced the acquisition of SurfRight, an innovator in signature-less next-generation endpoint threat detection and response (ETDR) and advanced threat prevention.



Based in Hengelo, the Netherlands, SurfRight has developed a portfolio of technologies that prevent, detect and remediate zero-day and sophisticated attacks by interrupting malware and advanced persistent threat (APT) vectors. SurfRight's real time anti-exploit technology focuses on detecting and preventing the memory manipulations and abuses that allow malicious code to run in the first place. Generic prevention of exploits at this early stage in the attack chain is a key enhancement to endpoint security mechanisms and can help thwart malicious code in the processor and memory. The portfolio also includes anti-espionage technology and enhanced protection against ransomware attacks such as CryptoLocker.



Sophos is recognized as a leader in endpoint protection today, with a growing set of next-generation technologies such as behavior-based analytics, Malicious Traffic Detection that monitors attempted outbound connections to known bad URLs, and Application Reputation which leverages a crowd-sourced big data warehouse managed by SophosLabs to determine whether a downloaded file is known to be good or bad and prompts the user to take appropriate action. This acquisition will further strengthen Sophos' leading endpoint protection technology, by adding complementary new defense tactics, delivered either on premise or in the cloud.



"SurfRight is a growing, profitable business with an established customer base and proven security capabilities. The team has engineered powerful, innovative next generation endpoint technologies that provide multiple advanced protection and mitigation elements, and yet are simple to use," commented Kris Hagerman, CEO at Sophos. "SurfRight's products embody the same product vision we have at Sophos - that even the most advanced IT security products should be simple to deploy and manage by organizations of any size. We are excited to welcome SurfRight to Sophos and look forward to introducing the benefits of this leading-edge technology to our global customer and partner base."



Sophos will immediately work to integrate the SurfRight technology into its line of endpoint security solutions. Once the integration work has been completed, Sophos will make the technology acquired from SurfRight available via its global network of more than 15,000 channel partners.



"Sophos offers SurfRight the opportunity to be part of a high-growth industry leader with a world-class channel and specialized product development teams to accelerate the delivery of our technology into IT organizations of all sizes," said Mark Loman, CEO at SurfRight. "We built this new technology from the ground up to address every vector of an APT attack in an auto-responding, coordinated manner, thus enhancing the speed of detection and response. SurfRight's unique next generation endpoint security software complements Sophos' offerings and delivers advanced security capabilities to better protect businesses worldwide."



SurfRight's technology will also further enhance the effectiveness of Sophos' synchronized security strategy, in which multiple components of security protection, including network security and endpoint security, actively and continuously communicate with each other. This innovative approach leads to faster threat detection and a dramatic reduction in the time and resources required to investigate and address security incidents.



"The team at SurfRight has developed cutting-edge technology that interrupts and mitigates even custom-made malware and exploits unknown to traditional antivirus or network-based intrusion detection systems," commented Dan Schiappa, senior vice president of Enduser Security at Sophos. "We recently announced the first delivery of our synchronized security strategy with the next generation XG Series Firewall, and this enhancement to our next generation endpoint solutions further strengthens the 'better together' approach as a key advantage for our customers."



Sophos will continue development and support for SurfRight's existing product line including its popular HitmanPro malware scanning and removal tools, used by more than 20 million users worldwide. Sophos acquired SurfRight for a cash consideration of $31.8 million and will retain all SurfRight employees and the company's office in Hengelo. SurfRight CEO Mark Loman will join the Sophos Enduser Security Group, reporting to Dan Schiappa.

Capital Markets Day and Q1 Trading Update

RNS


RNS Number : 5653C

Sophos Group Plc

29 June 2016




Sophos Group plc

Capital Markets Day and Q1 Trading Update





Oxford, 29 June 2016. Sophos Group plc (the "Company" or the "Group" / LSE: SOPH), a leading provider of cloud-enabled enduser and network security solutions, is today hosting a Capital Markets Day for analysts and investors in London.



Capital Markets Day

The event will be hosted in London by Kris Hagerman, chief executive officer and Nick Bray, chief financial officer, alongside other members of the senior management team.



The materials to be presented at the Group's inaugural Capital Markets Day later today will be available on the Group's website at: https://investors.sophos.com/. The meeting will also be available as a live webcast and as an audio playback.



Trading update

· Sophos has continued to enjoy strong trading, with Q1 billings expected to be above the Board's expectations

· Q1 FY17 Like-for-like billings growth is expected to be in the range of 20 percent to 23 percent year-over-year

· Billings assisted by a material contract with an existing customer

· Sophos re-confirms FY17 outlook



About

The Sophos Group is a leading global provider of cloud-enabled enduser and network security solutions, offering organisations end-to-end protection against known and unknown IT security threats through products that are easy to install, configure, update and maintain. For further information please visit: www.sophos.com. The Group has over 30 years of experience in enterprise security and has built a portfolio of products that protects over 220,000 organisations and over 100 million endusers in 150 countries across a variety of industries.



Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements in this announcement constitute "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Group's actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These factors include: general economic and business conditions; changes in technology; timing or delay in signing, commencement, implementation and performance or programmes, or the delivery of products or services under them; structural change in the security industry; relationships with customers; competition; and ability to attract personnel. You are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this announcement. The Group undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances.

First quarter results

Highlights

· Billings1 grew 25.2 percent year-over-year ("YOY"), with growth across all major regions and product categories; 23.0 percent on a like-for-like2 basis

· Revenue3 grew 12.2 percent YOY; 11.9 percent at constant currency; the subscription component of revenue grew 14.5 percent at reported exchange rates

· Cash EBITDA4 grew 55.2 percent YOY driven by the improvement in billings; 48.6 percent at constant currency

· Unlevered free cash flow5 of $28.8M (Q1 FY16: $3.7M out flow); significantly improved YOY due to stronger cash EBITDA and the normalisation of working capital

28 Jul Peel Hunt 360.00 Buy

29 Jul JP Morgan... 320.00 Overweight

15 Aug Deutsche Bank Buy 247.80 290.00 290.00 Reiterates

6 Sep Deutsche Bank 290.00 Buy

Litigation Ruling
RNS
RNS Number : 5429K
Sophos Group Plc
22 September 2016
 
Sophos Group plc
Litigation Ruling
 
 
London, 22 September 2016. Sophos Group plc ("Sophos" or the "Company") announces that the jury in the lawsuit brought by Finjan, Inc (Finjan) asserting certain patent claims against Sophos has found that the Company infringed on five of Finjan's patents, and has awarded Finjan a one-time damages payment of $15 million. This verdict represents the next step in an ongoing legal process and Sophos is considering all options including an appeal of the verdict.
 
Forward-looking Statements
Certain statements in this announcement constitute "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Group's actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from those projected in the forward-looking statements.  These factors include: general economic and business conditions; changes in technology; timing or delay in signing, commencement, implementation and performance or programmes, or the delivery of products or services under them; structural change in the security industry; relationships with customers; competition; and ability to attract personnel.  You are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this announcement.  The Group undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances.
 

Sustained momentum in Q3

13:30 13/02/2017
Director Deals - Sophos Group Plc (SOPH)
Nick Bray, Financial Director, sold 46,209 shares in the company on the 10th February 2017 at a price of 281.65p. The Director now holds 1,315,320 shares. Story provided by StockMarketWire.com Director deals data provided by www.directorsholdings.com
13:25 13/02/2017
Director Deals - Sophos Group Plc (SOPH)
Kris Hagerman, Chief Executive Officer, sold 112,853 shares in the company on the 10th February 2017 at a price of 281.65p. The Director now holds 1,897,289 shares. Story provided by StockMarketWire.com Director deals data provided by www.directorsholdings.com

Trading Update and Notice of Final Results
RNS
RNS Number : 4486B
Sophos Group Plc
04 April 2017
 
This announcement contains inside information within the purposes of article 7 of the EU Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014
Sophos Group plc
Trading Update and Notice of Final Results
Oxford, 4 April 2017.  Following a very strong end to the fourth quarter, Sophos Group plc (the "Group" / LSE: SOPH), a leading provider of cloud-enabled enduser and network security solutions, is pleased to provide a trading update in advance of announcing its final results for the year ended 31 March 2017.
The Group expects to report fourth quarter constant currency billings growth of approximately 27%, excluding any benefit from the recently announced acquisition of Invincea.  Full year constant currency billings growth is expected to be approximately 20%.  Reported billings, allowing for the currency headwind, are expected to grow approximately 18% to $630 million from $535 million in the year-ended 31 March 2016, ahead of the consensus range of $610 million to $617 million.  Consequently, Cash EBITDA and unlevered free cash flow are also expected to be ahead of the consensus range.
Notice of Results
Sophos will be announcing its final results for the year-ended 31 March 2017 on 17 May 2017.

5 Apr
Deutsche Bank
N/A
Buy
5 Apr
Citigroup
380.00
Buy

Final results due on Wednesday.

Even after the very bullish update on 4th April there could be scope for further upgrades after the worldwide cyber attack yesterday.

LedZep4 love it , first Zep album i heard and it blew my mind a very underrated band , listened to 3 and 1 the other day , stonking .

Victim,

LZ4 was indeed an extraordinary album. I was privileged enough to see them at Knebworth in 1979 (crowd of approximately 120,000) and also see Page & Plant at Shepherds Bush Empire in 1995 (approx. 2000 people) - tickets for the latter obtained courtesy of a tip off given by Ronnie Wood to my friend who was doing some electrical work at his house !!!

Happy days.

Anyway I think this could be a good week for Sophos.

;o)

Good call here LedZep4. In long on the spreads this morn for a quick punt @ 348.88p stop to lock in profit @ 358.88.

Stairway To Heaven classic :0)

08:30 15/05/2017
Broker Forecast - Deutsche Bank issues a broker note on Sophos Group Plc
Deutsche Bank today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) and raised its price target to 350p (from 290p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Final results

Business highlights
·      FY17 reported billings grew 18.2% to $632.1 million, or by 19.9% at constant currency, with strong momentum across all regions and products, in new business and renewals
·      Cash flow growth exceptionally strong, with unlevered free cash flow almost tripling to $133.4 million
·      Very strong performance from Sophos Central, growing 220% to $87.7 million from $27.4 million in the prior year; now representing 17.1% of subscription billings (FY16: 6.5%)
·      Enduser security increased by 24.4% to $298.5 million and network security grew by 17.8% to $319.1 million at constant currency, reflecting continued market share gains
·      Operating loss increased over prior-year, primarily as a consequence of cost increases associated with the strong growth in billings, whilst the majority of revenue is deferred and recognised over time
·      Deferred revenue grew 16.5%, growing $82.3 million to $581.0 million, increasing visibility of future revenue growth
·      Cash EBITDA margin increase by 110 basis points to 23.7%
·      Net renewal rate (including cross-sell and upsell) increased to 106% (FY16: 102%) with UTM/endpoint cross-sell at 9.6% (FY16: 7.4%)
·      Launch in September of Intercept X, a next-generation endpoint protection application, featuring signature-less anti-exploit and anti-ransomware capabilities, already with more than 8,000 customers
·      Integration of Invincea's machine learning technology progressing well, with new endpoint protection solution expected to be available in Sophos Central in 2017
·      Final dividend of 3.3 US Cents per share, an increase of 200%; total dividend for the year of 4.6 US Cents, an increase of 156% over the prior year

Well positioned in the market, with recent attacks.

The Co founder, Dr. Peter Lammer was in the year below me at School!

Will he give you a job in the company. lol

:-)

17 May
Shore Capital
N/A
Sell

15 May
Deutsche Bank
350.00

Deutsche Bank today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) and raised its price target to 430p (from 350p).

JP Morgan Cazenove today reaffirms its overweight investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) and raised its price target to 430p (from 360p).

Nice.

Out the spreads @400p back on watch list.

Shares - could go 28% higher.

26 Jun
Morgan Stanley
N/A
Overweight

bought in June at 416 now 34.6% up and rising

Well done. :-))

09:00 27/10/2017
Broker Forecast - JP Morgan Cazenove issues a broker note on Sophos Group Plc
JP Morgan Cazenove today reaffirms its overweight investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) and raised its price target to 630p (from 610p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

09:40 02/11/2017
Broker Forecast - Jefferies International issues a broker note on Sophos Group Plc
Jefferies International today initiates coverage of Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) with a buy investment rating and price target of 850p. Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

StockMarketWire.com
Sophos Group raised its full-year outlook after billings grew in the first half, though it still reported an operating loss.

The company posted an operating loss of $23.8m, narrowing from a loss of $24.6m in the previous year, as it continued to invest in R&D and sales and marketing activities.

The company now expects 20-22% billings growth for the full year, with a 50-100 basis point improvement in the cash Ebitda margin and modest growth in unlevered free cash flow.

First-half net cash from operations increased by 28% to $80.7m, while billings momentum strengthened, with growth of 22% in the first half and 29% in the second quarter.

Numis comment:
Sophos's Q2 has shown very strong growth, as we expected with our top-of-the-range forecasts. 28% billings growth (NSe 31%) to $177m (NSe $181m) with Cash EBITDA $39m (NSe $41m), 56% growth. FY guidance is raised to 20-22% billings growth (NSe 22% already) thus whilst we expect a c.3-5% increase in consensus, our forecasts remain unchanged at this stage. The standout figure is renewal rate, at 139% by value - given that renewals represent c.60% of billings, a strong renewal rate performance is highly beneficial for overall billings. Importantly, we still see potential for further strong performance from Sophos this year, with strong business momentum as Sophos Central eases the cross/upsell process, and InterceptX provides a highly attractive product for new and existing customers, at a time when well-publicised threats drive demand for such enhanced protection. TP moves up to 570p due to US$ movement.
Sustainability remains the key question. Sophos is benefiting from renewal rates well above historic norms, aided in our view by increasing Central penetration and InterceptX sales. Cybersecurity is such that there are always new threats, thus if Sophos can maintain sufficient product innovation, there will be further new products to sell. Our forecasts assume that renewal rate and growth fades from 2018 onwards -
if we are over-cautious on this, there could be good sustained upside. Conversely, the key risk we see is missing out on a future product cycle transition."

JP Morgan Cazenove today reaffirms its overweight investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) and raised its price target to 690p (from 630p).

Jefferies International today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) and raised its price target to 865p (from 850p).

Please Note - Streaming News is only available to subscribers to the Active Level and above
 


Interim FY18 GBP Equivalent Dividend Payments
RNS
RNS Number : 3127Y
Sophos Group Plc
04 December 2017
 
Sophos Group plc
 
 
Interim FY18 GBP Equivalent Dividend Payments
 
The Board of Sophos Group plc (Sophos) today announces the GBP equivalent dividend payments in respect of the interim FY18 dividend, which was announced on 8 November 2017 at 1.4 US cents per ordinary share.  The USD to GBP exchange rate used to convert the dividends into GBP of $1.38167348 = £1 is based on the market rate obtained on 1 December 2017. 
 
Accordingly, dividends on ordinary shares will be paid at the rate of 1.013264 pence per ordinary share. This dividend will be payable on 15 December 2017 to those members whose names were on the Register of Members on 17 November 2017.

Director Deals - Sophos Group Plc (SOPH)
BFN
Kris Hagerman, Chief Executive Officer, bought 2,087 shares in the company on the 2nd January 2018 at a price of 376.26p. The Director now holds 849,618 shares.

Story provided by StockMarketWire.com
Director deals data provided by www.directorsholdings.com

Have this company as an entry in the uk stock challenge.

http://www.stockchallenge.co.uk/

11 Jan
Credit Suisse
700.00
Outperform

Edit/ cleared Teach me to read it more. Cheers Harry.

No problem!

Trading statement

Financial and operational highlights

· Billings1 for the nine-month period (year-to-date: "YTD") increased by 21%, or 20% at constant currency ("CC")
- Continued strong growth in Q3, with billings +19% (+14% CC), as we lapped the anniversary of the launch of Intercept X
- Subscription billings increased by 25% YTD, with growth of 20% in Q3
- Sophos Central and Enduser Security remained the principal drivers, with Enduser billings +34% YTD and +27% in Q3
- Network security billings +12% YTD and +15% in Q3
- Good growth across all regions, with Americas and EMEA +22%, and APJ +14% YTD
· Further acceleration in revenue with growth of 19% YTD (18% CC), and 23% in Q3 (19% CC)
- Driven by subscription element of prior-period bookings, with subscription revenue +23% YTD and +27% in Q3
- Deferred revenue increased by 33% year-over-year to $687.6 million
· Strong cash flow performance, with net cash flow from operations up by 21% to $98.2 million and an improvement in unlevered free cash flow2 YTD to $88.2 million, following planned investment in recent new product releases

Sophos operating profit slides 20%
StockMarketWire.com
Sophos, a provider of cloud enabled enduser and network security solutions, made an adjusted operating profit of $30.4 million in the nine months ended 31 December 2017, a decrease of 19.6% from the same period a year ago.

Billings increased by 21%, or 20% at constant currency (CC), with subscription billings up by 25%.

Sophos Central and Enduser Security remained the principal drivers, with Enduser billings up 34%. Network security billings rose by 12%.

Group revenue increased by 19% (18% CC), with subscription revenue 23% higher and deferred revenue 33% higher at $687.6 million.

Kris Hagerman, chief executive officer, said: "The strong demand for our industry-leading cybersecurity solutions continued in Q3. Customer reaction to XG Firewall v17 has been very positive, and we are delighted to have recently launched a major new release of Intercept X, incorporating for the first time our neural network-based deep learning technology into our leading endpoint product. Consequently, as our business continues to post strong growth the board is confident both in the outlook for the full-year and the longer-term prospects of the group."

At 8:14am: (LON:SOPH) Sophos Group Plc share price was -78.5p at 543p


Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

all sounded quite good, but market very unimpressed and shares down 17.5%+

Morgan Stanley today reaffirms its overweight investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) and cut its price target to 705p (from 780p).

Ameet Patel of Northern Trust:
"We’d been buyers of Sophos since IPO in June 2015 all the way up to their latest update on 8 Feb – it is an easy story to understand and buy into as Europe’s only mid-cap pure play on the cyber security mega theme. That’s all very well as long there is no change in the narrative and strong growth momentum – but the slowdown in growth reported in Q3 rang alarm bells for us. Yes, management was keen to point out this was in-line with expectations, had been flagged as potential consequence of new product launches, and would be reversed in Q4. Perhaps – we’ll see at the FY release in May. But in the meantime, we think at the very least the bare bones investment case could come under increasing scrutiny – and then a few things add to our concerns. First, it’s another roll-up/leverage combo (net debt/FY18 consensus EBITDA is a punchy 4x, $244M cumulative spend on acquisitions to date on cumulative FCF of $151M) – that alone could get investors thinking, especially after Micro Focus this morning and Sophos’s top line wobble in February. Second, there’s plenty to dig into on the accounting front – not least the reliance on prepayments, high ratio of deferred revenues/revenues, and the company’s definition of ‘cash EBITDA’. And more generically, although demand growth remains strong, this is a competitive space and any sign of intensifying pressure (pricing or otherwise) could trigger fears re top line momentum – if Sophos has for any reason struggled to recover from the sales disruption experienced in Q3 and Q4 ends up disappointing, we’d expect serious capitulation.
On balance, we think there’s enough here for investors to question at least in the near term, especially with valuation at a level which could make the stock particularly sensitive to any cracks in the story (EV/Sales 5.4x, EV/EBITDA 57x on FY18 consensus numbers). We initiate with a Trading Sell."

.

Jefferies International today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) and cut its price target to 750p (from 865p).

Final results

Financial highlights

· Billings1 grew by 22% to $769 million, an increase of 18% at constant currency
· Revenue increased by 21% to $641 million, reflecting constant currency growth of 18%, driven by 26% growth in subscription revenue in the period
· Cloud subscription billings continued to grow strongly, with Sophos Central up 112% to $186 million, from $88 million in FY17
· Total subscription renewal base has now surpassed the $1 billion milestone
· Net renewal rate, including cross-sell and upsell, improved to 140% from 129% in FY17
· Adjusted operating profit2 increased by 20% to $46 million, from $38 million in the prior-year
· Loss before taxation increased to $52 million, from $49 million, despite the increase in adjusted operating profit, after the negative impact of financing foreign exchange losses
· Strong growth in new business with over 300,000 customers at the end of the year, from 260,000 in FY17
· Final dividend of 3.5 cents per share, an increase of 6.1% over the prior year; total dividend for the year of 4.9 cents, an increase of 6.5%

Numistoday reaffirms its hold investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) and raised its price target to 580p (from 570p).

14 Jun
Deutsche Bank
N/A
Buy

Credit Suisse today reaffirms its outperform investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) and raised its price target to 750p (from 700p).

Q1 FY19 Update
RNS
RNS Number : 6558T
Sophos Group Plc
05 July 2018


Sophos Group plc
Q1 FY19 Update
Oxford, 5th July 2018. Sophos Group plc (the "Group" / LSE: SOPH), a leading provider of cloud-enabled enduser and network cybersecurity solutions, provides the following update in advance of publishing its scheduled trading statement for the quarter ended 30th June 2018.
Trading Update
The Group expects to report Q1 billings growth of approximately 6% (2% at constant currency), with a strong performance in revenue and cash flow. We continued to see a strong demand environment and expect to report mid-teens growth in new customer and network security billings in the period.
The lower than anticipated billings growth in Q1 was primarily driven by our Enduser security business, which faced a particularly challenging comparable. Underlying Enduser billings growth in Q1 FY18 was in excess of 50% at constant currency, after adjusting for the previously disclosed material contract in FY17. The significant increase in demand for our Endpoint protection solutions in the first-half of FY18 was driven by high-profile global ransomware attacks such as WannaCry, with the additional contribution from Intercept X, our new next-generation endpoint solution, included in the H1 FY18 billings mix for the first time. These factors will also apply to the second quarter of the current fiscal year, albeit with a somewhat easier prior-year comparable. As the prior-year comparators normalise, we expect a return to mid-teens constant currency billings growth in the second half of the year. Our long-term outlook remains unchanged.
Sophos is scheduled to publish its full Q1 trading statement on 26th July 2018.

UBS today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) and cut its price target to 645p (from 675p).

Deutsche Bank today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) and cut its price target to 630p (from 700p).

StockMarketWire.com
Sophos reported cash earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell from $27.3m in the first quarter of FY18 to $20.3m in the first quarter of FY19.

The company said this reflected both lower than expected billings growth and a planned increase in annualised R&D and sales and marketing expenses.

HIGHLIGHTS:
- As previously announced, Q1 FY19 group billings growth of 6%, (or 2% constant currency), was lower than anticipated

- Overall the group continued to see a strong demand environment, with a double-digit increase in billings from new customers, and Sophos Central and Intercept X both continued to show good momentum in the quarter

- Enduser security billings declined by -1% (or -5% constant currency) versus the prior-year period, after a particularly challenging prior-year comparable, where billings growth was over 50% constant currency in Q1 FY18 after adjusting for the previously disclosed material contract in FY17

- Network security billings grew by 12% (or 7% constant currency) versus the prior-year period, and within this UTM growth was 19% (or 14% constant currency)

The net renewal rate was 114% in Q1 compared to 141% a year ago. This level was below what we believe are sustainable norms, and was principally caused by two factors:

- In Enduser security, we saw relatively lower levels of cross-selling activity than expected, in part due to accelerated demand in FY18 that resulted from the global Wannacry ransomware outbreak

- In Network security, the renewal rate was affected by a legacy product transition, as the migration from Cyberoam to Sophos XG Firewall nears its conclusion

Revenue increased by 24% (or 19% constant currency), principally driven by a 27% increase in subscription revenue.

Adjusted operating profit increased almost six-fold from $3.7m in Q1 FY18 to $21.9m in Q1 FY19, driven by strong revenue growth, demonstrating the operating leverage of the Sophos business model.

Cash generation in the period continued to be strong, with a 33% increase in net operating cash flow and a 31% increase in unlevered free cash flow compared to the prior-year period.

Proactive investor - Sophos's plunge prompts upgrade from Numis Securities
Share
12:06 30 Jul 2018
The price target stays the same but with the share price more than a quid lower than it was a month ago, Numis moves to 'add' from 'hold'

Renewals and up-selling account for about two-thirds of annual billings
There’s nothing like a share price plunge to get investment analysts to revisit a stock recommendation, as has happened with Sophos Group PLC (LON:SOPH).
Numis Securities has moved to it to ‘add’ from ‘hold’ after the July 5 trading statement from the cyber-security firm that prompted a fall from 615p to 486p in a single day.

READ: Sophos Group's warning catches market on the hop
The profit warning on July 5 meant that the scheduled trading update on July 26 contained few surprises.
For Numis, the key question is: how fast will billings recover?
“Management remains confident that easier End-user comparables will allow group billings growth to re-accelerate to low teens in H219. Estimating the precise pace of recovery is difficult, as demonstrated by Q1's guidance failure, but we expect this to be a material effect,” Numis said.
“Management also noted that the run-off of Cyberoam (now c.5% of Network billings) had a material effect on Network renewals in Q119, although we are unclear if there are other issues holding Network back. The release of XG v17.2 during FYH219 is seen as significant, adding Sophos Central cloud management and reporting from the firewall, which may help to improve renewal rates in time,” the broker added.
Numis is now projecting year-on-year billings growth of 8% on a constant currency (c/c) basis for the year ending March 31 of next year (FY19), down from its previous forecast of +13%.
It expects cost growth to match this, and has accordingly reduced its FY19 cash EBITDA (underlying earnings) forecast to US$209mln from $229mln.
Numis said the acceleration in billings growth from fiscal 2015 means there is potentially a boost on the way from renewals and up-selling.
Renewals and up-sells account for about two-thirds of annual billings, Numis noted.
Shares in Sophos currently trade at around 487p; Numis values them at 580p.

11:10 23/08/2018
Broker Forecast - Credit Suisse issues a broker note on Sophos Group Plc
Credit Suisse today reaffirms its outperform investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) and cut its price target to 713p (from 750p). Story provided by StockMarketWire.com Broker Forecasts data provided by www.sharesmagazine.co.uk

Deutsche Bank today downgrades its investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) to hold (from buy) and cut its price target to 530p (from 630p).

Liberum Capital today initiates coverage of Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) with a buy investment rating and price target of 530p.

StockMarketWire.com
Cyber security company Sophos Group swung to a first-half profit as it boosted sales, though underlying earnings were hurt by lower margins.

Pre-tax profit for the six months through September amounted to $26.0m, compared to a loss of $35.5m on-year.

Cash Ebitda, however, fell 19% to $54.0m.

The fall in earnings reflected lower-than-expected billings and spending on R&D and marketing.

'Sophos continues to make solid progress in advancing our strategy of delivering advanced and highly effective cybersecurity solutions to IT professionals at organizations of all sizes,' chief executive Kris Hagerman said.

'We now expect a modest improvement in constant currency billings growth in the second half compared to the first half, as we continue to work through challenging year-on-year comparatives.'

For the 2020 financial year, we enter the year with strong growth in our subscription renewals base, and hence, assuming a stable renewal rate, we would anticipate a significant improvement in the rate of overall constant currency year-on-year billings growth.'

Liberum Capital today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) and cut its price target to 400p (from 530p).

Deutsche Bank today reaffirms its hold investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) and cut its price target to 370p (from 530p).

Trading update

Summary Financial Performance

· Constant currency Billings1 grew 2% for the third-quarter and 2% for the nine-months year-to-date ("YTD")
o Continued subdued performance is set against the context of a challenging prior-year comparable
o A further sequential improvement in the renewal rate to existing customers in the third-quarter
to 122%
o Offset by a modest decline in billings from new customers as well as a decline in hardware billings
o Sophos Central billings up by 22% YTD and 29% in the third-quarter at constant currency
o Enduser billings rose by 6% in the third-quarter at constant currency, an improvement over the small constant currency decline experienced in the first-half of the fiscal year
o Positive initial customer response to Intercept X Advanced with EDR, following a successful launch at the end of the third-quarter
o Network saw a small benefit from the launch of XG Firewall v17.5 late in the period, albeit overall Network subscription growth was offset by lower hardware billings
o We now expect the trends in the third quarter to generally continue into the fourth quarter, which would result in a modest decline in full-year constant currency billings
· Revenue increased by 14% YTD on both a reported and constant currency basis, principally driven by continued growth in subscription revenue
o Subscription revenue increased by 18% YTD and 15% in the third-quarter at constant currency, benefiting from prior-period subscription billings and offsetting a reduction in hardware revenue
o Deferred revenue increased by 8% year-over-year ("YOY"), as a result of the deferral of billings net of the impact of currency movements from the strengthening of the US dollar in the period
· Profitability significantly improved
o Adjusted operating profit2 increased by 157% YTD, driven by strong growth in revenue
o Reported operating profit of $51 million YTD, compared to a prior-period loss of $25 million
o Cash EBITDA3 declined 8% YTD reflecting the subdued billings performance
· Cash flow performance was strong, in the context of a strong prior-year comparative period
o Net cash flow from operations of $100 million and unlevered free cash flow4 broadly unchanged YTD
· Over 25,000 net new customers added YTD, including more than 9,000 in the third-quarter, with total customers
of 327,000

Liberum Capital today downgrades its investment rating on Sophos Group Plc (LON:SOPH) to hold (from buy) and cut its price target to 320p (from 400p).