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

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).

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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."

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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.