On Monday,February 6, Kaspersky Lab founder Eugene Kaspersky ruled out an IPO (Initial Public Offering). He announced that the company will be buying back the 20% of the company owned by private equity firm General Atlantic. General Atlantic bought the stake from Kaspersky's ex-wife, Natalya, who was then chairperson of the board at the time.
"You don't have to report to anybody else but yourself," said Kaspersky. The firm’s annual revenue tops $500 million according to the Reuters article.
Kaspersky Lab has grown rapidly over the past five years, gaining ground against its three largest competitors, Symantec, McAfee (purchased by Intel last year) and Trend Micro. Kaspersky may be on pace to pass Trend Micro this year.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/06/us-kaspersky-idUSTRE81511Z20120206
Kaspersky rules out IPO – should the others? Interesting take by Financial Times on how this and AVG Technologies recent IPO may effect other antivirus vendors plans for going public. In the article - Avast declined to comment on its IPO plans to the Financial Times. Analysts said that Avast could well fare better than AVG, however, as the filing documents had revealed stronger growth prospects for the business. According to the Financial Times, Kaspersky and AVG’s moves could also spell an even longer wait for Sophos.
http://blogs.ft.com/fttechhub/2012/02/kaspersky-rules-out-ipo-should-the-others/#axzz1lfGrilMm
Kaspersky Hits Milestone in Enterprise Quest - This is an informative October article about Kaspersky and includes a chat with the founder on Channelnomics.com.
http://channelnomics.com/2011/10/07/kaspersky-lab-continues-march-enterprise-security-management-products/
Kaspersky Lab Has Good Products
AV-Test www.av-test.org - Kaspersky topped this test among 23 products in Q4 testing.
VB100 (Virus Bulletin, www.virusbtn.com) – Kaspersky Internet Security was four for five in receiving VB100 awards during 2011 for tests this product was in. Their AV solution was only three for five over the same period.
AV-Comparatives www.av-comparatives.org – Kaspersky won Av-Comparative’s Product of the Year Award. (1) They came in third in Av-Comparatives August-December “Whole Product “Real World” Dynamic Protection Test”. (2) Kaspersky received 3 stars out of 3 and placed 6th out of 18 in the “On Demand Detection of Malicious Software Test”.
PC Magazine - Kaspersky Internet Security received 3.0 stars out of five in PC Magazine's reviews of Internet Security Suites 2012. Norton Internet Security topped the list.
PC World – Kaspersky received 4.0 stars out of 5 in PC World's review of 2012 products. G Data topped the list with 4.5 stars .
Avast is Quiet About Their IPO
Avast filed for a $200 million IPO in December. There has been no news about a proposed date. It would have been interesting to hear any management discussions the Avast team had following AVG Technologies' IPO on February 1.
http://kensek.blogspot.com/2011/12/avast-software-files-for-200-million.html
Showing posts with label Financial Times. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Financial Times. Show all posts
Monday, February 06, 2012
AVG Technologies Goes Public With Their IPO on NYSE
AVG Technologies' two year (?) trek to go public occurred on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on February 1. For a while, the street had the IPO taking place on the London or Warsaw Stock Exchange. The planned opening Thursday morning on the NYSE was to be somewhere in the range of $16-18 US. Instead, it opened slightly lower and closed at $13.00 on Thursday for a 19% drop. Friday’s close was $13.09. A negative first day pop is never the objective. A positive pop rewards the initial investors, generates buzz, etc.
The three lead underwriters for the IPO (Initial Public Offering) were Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs. Those underwriters will also be leading the Facebook IPO.
First Day Press on the IPO (some of the links may have changed)
Financial Times - AVG: not feeling the love
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/02/02/polands-avg-http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnot-feeling-the-nyse-love/#axzz1lT3sEdh6
Czechposition.com - Shares in Czech anti-virus software firm AVG tank in NYSE debut, despite solid fundamentals
http://www.ceskapozice.cz/en/business/markets-finance/shares-czech-anti-virus-software-firm-avg-tank-nyse-debut-despite-solid-fun
NY Times - Facebook I.P.O. Lifts Some Tech Stocks
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/facebook-i-p-o-lifts-some-tech-stocks/
Forbes - IPOs: Let's Hope Facebook’s Deal Goes Better than AVG's
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2012/02/02/ipos-lets-hope-facebooks-deal-goes-better-than-avgs/
Deal Pipeline- AVG IPO gets no Facebook boost
http://www.thedeal.com/content/tmt/avg-ipo-gets-no-facebook-boost.php#ixzz1lTJ4XouF
Reuters - AVG Tech shares crash on market debut. This headline was later amended to AVG Tech shares fall on market debut
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/02/us-avgtech-idUSTRE8112EZ20120202
What Happened?
That’s probably being asked in Prague and Amsterdam. Doing a valuation and pricing a private company for an IPO is an inexact science. Market conditions have changed (actually for the better over the last few months). The “guys in the room” may have been overly optimistic in their forecasts they used to generate their valuation of AVG and then back calculating to $16-18 dollar price. Buyers may be sitting back. It’s a positive sign that the original investors sold only a portion of their stock.
One article mentioned that at the offering price, AVG's price-to-earnings ratio was about 15. The writer stated that this made the shares more costly than those of Symantec, whose shares trade at a P-E ratio of about 11. This isn’t a completely fair comparison. Symantec isn’t s a pure security play given that they own VeriSign. Symantec’s mix of business and consumer security software is different. They have a broader overall security portfolio. They also sell security appliances. Hardware security firms tend to have lower multiples.
AVG Technologies Has Relatively Solid Products
• AV- Test www.av-test.org - They came in sixth out of 23 in Av –Tests’s Q4 testing. Kaspersky topped this test.
• VB100 (Virus Bulletin, www.virusbtn.com ) - AVG was 5 for 6 in receiving VB100 awards during 2011 for tests they were in.
• AV-Comparatives www.av-comparatives.org – (1) AVG Technologies was 11th in av-comparatives August-December “Whole Product “Real World” Dynamic Protection Test”. Symantec topped this one. (2) AVG received 2 stars out of 3 and finished 14th out of 18 in the “On Demand Detection of Malicious Software Test”. Kaspersky won av-comparative’s Product of the Year award.
• PC Magazine - They scored 3.0 stars out of 5 in PC Magazine’s Internet Security Suites 2012 testing. Symantec topped this test with 4.5 stars.
• PC World – They scored 4.0 stars out of 5 along with 7 other companies in PC World’s Best Internet Security Suites 2012 reviews. G Data topped this testing with 4.5 stars.
Now that AVG Technologies has gone public, there will be more visibility into the company. More "numbers"will be available for analysts and the public to view - where revenues are coming from, margins, financing, banking, and all that good stuff. More visibility will be given to projections (with the caveats that all public firms make). Analysts may look at churn, which is about 50%, based on AVG’s installed based of just over 100 million users and over 50 million downloads annually on download.com .
The three lead underwriters for the IPO (Initial Public Offering) were Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs. Those underwriters will also be leading the Facebook IPO.
First Day Press on the IPO (some of the links may have changed)
Financial Times - AVG: not feeling the love
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/02/02/polands-avg-http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnot-feeling-the-nyse-love/#axzz1lT3sEdh6
Czechposition.com - Shares in Czech anti-virus software firm AVG tank in NYSE debut, despite solid fundamentals
http://www.ceskapozice.cz/en/business/markets-finance/shares-czech-anti-virus-software-firm-avg-tank-nyse-debut-despite-solid-fun
NY Times - Facebook I.P.O. Lifts Some Tech Stocks
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/facebook-i-p-o-lifts-some-tech-stocks/
Forbes - IPOs: Let's Hope Facebook’s Deal Goes Better than AVG's
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2012/02/02/ipos-lets-hope-facebooks-deal-goes-better-than-avgs/
Deal Pipeline- AVG IPO gets no Facebook boost
http://www.thedeal.com/content/tmt/avg-ipo-gets-no-facebook-boost.php#ixzz1lTJ4XouF
Reuters - AVG Tech shares crash on market debut. This headline was later amended to AVG Tech shares fall on market debut
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/02/us-avgtech-idUSTRE8112EZ20120202
What Happened?
That’s probably being asked in Prague and Amsterdam. Doing a valuation and pricing a private company for an IPO is an inexact science. Market conditions have changed (actually for the better over the last few months). The “guys in the room” may have been overly optimistic in their forecasts they used to generate their valuation of AVG and then back calculating to $16-18 dollar price. Buyers may be sitting back. It’s a positive sign that the original investors sold only a portion of their stock.
One article mentioned that at the offering price, AVG's price-to-earnings ratio was about 15. The writer stated that this made the shares more costly than those of Symantec, whose shares trade at a P-E ratio of about 11. This isn’t a completely fair comparison. Symantec isn’t s a pure security play given that they own VeriSign. Symantec’s mix of business and consumer security software is different. They have a broader overall security portfolio. They also sell security appliances. Hardware security firms tend to have lower multiples.
AVG Technologies Has Relatively Solid Products
• AV- Test www.av-test.org - They came in sixth out of 23 in Av –Tests’s Q4 testing. Kaspersky topped this test.
• VB100 (Virus Bulletin, www.virusbtn.com ) - AVG was 5 for 6 in receiving VB100 awards during 2011 for tests they were in.
• AV-Comparatives www.av-comparatives.org – (1) AVG Technologies was 11th in av-comparatives August-December “Whole Product “Real World” Dynamic Protection Test”. Symantec topped this one. (2) AVG received 2 stars out of 3 and finished 14th out of 18 in the “On Demand Detection of Malicious Software Test”. Kaspersky won av-comparative’s Product of the Year award.
• PC Magazine - They scored 3.0 stars out of 5 in PC Magazine’s Internet Security Suites 2012 testing. Symantec topped this test with 4.5 stars.
• PC World – They scored 4.0 stars out of 5 along with 7 other companies in PC World’s Best Internet Security Suites 2012 reviews. G Data topped this testing with 4.5 stars.
Now that AVG Technologies has gone public, there will be more visibility into the company. More "numbers"will be available for analysts and the public to view - where revenues are coming from, margins, financing, banking, and all that good stuff. More visibility will be given to projections (with the caveats that all public firms make). Analysts may look at churn, which is about 50%, based on AVG’s installed based of just over 100 million users and over 50 million downloads annually on download.com .
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Internet Security 2011 – Rush To Release Part V
September 28 addendum - AVG 2011 should be available September 29.
October 8 Addendum - Link to PC Magazine AVG Internet Security 2011 Review AVG IS 2011 PC Magazine Review http://tinyurl.com/366n5mg
F-Secure has now joined the companies releasing their consumer Internet Security 2011 and Anti-virus 2011 solutions. The announcement for F-Secure Internet Security 2011 and F-Secure Anti-virus 2011 took place on September 15.
About F-Secure Internet Security 2011 and Anti-virus 2011
F-Secure promotes multi-layered protection with their F-Secure Internet Security 2011 product. They state that their Browsing Protection feature will warn you which sites are safe to enter. F-Secure utilizes multiple scanning engines for the antivirus protection.
F-Secure’s DeepGuard in the cloud protection is designed to provide instant protection again new threats. F-Secure DeepGuard 2.0 incorporates a feature called Network Lookups to enable instant protection against emerging threats. It detects when a Windows application is launched and F-Secure’s Network Look-up feature asks about the application. If “the cloud” replies that the application is good, it’s allowed.
Their products also relies on some local decision logic, so there is still protection, even when there is no working network connection.
PC Magazine’s Neil Rubenking gave F-Secure Internet Security an overall score of 3.0 out of 5. He liked the interface and the small footprint of the product. Overall, he felt that the security components were “good” and that the product had potential. He favored Kaspersky or Norton over F-Secure. However. Rudimentary found fault with the product's parental control and found that the test systems were sluggish at times.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369358,00.asp
F-Secure Anti-virus 2011 scored a slightly higher at 3.5 out of 5.0 with Rubenking complimenting the product for its cloud based and reputation based detection. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369143,00.asp
F-Secure Product Testing and Certification (2010 Releases)
F-Secure has received VB100 status for the last 4 recent tests it has submitted for. http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?display=summary . Its Internet Security 2010 product has been certified by ICSA Labs for both cleaning and detection - https://www.icsalabs.com/products?tid_1[]=4264&x=35&y=12&=Apply . ICSA Labs' web site - www.iscalabs.com
2011 Internet Security Solutions Released
The lines below contain feature checklists for a number of each of the company's products.
• BitDefender Total Security 2011 was released around August 16. For product details - http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/total-security.
• Kaspersky - Kaspersky announced Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 on August 16 For product details -http://usa.kaspersky.com/products_services/compare/
• Panda Security – Panda Internet Security Suite 2011 was announced on July 27. For product details - http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/homeusers/solutions/
• Webroot - Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 was announced on July 26. For product details http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-compare.html
• Symantec – Symantec introduced their Norton consumer security solutions in early September. For product details: http://www.symantec.com/norton/products/charts/comparison.jsp?pcid=mp
• Trend Micro - Trend Micro introduced their Titanium product line in early September. For product details: http:// Trend us.trendmicro.com/us/products/personal/titanium-maximum-security/ and click on “product comparison”
• F-Secure - F-Secure announced their internet security product line on September 15. For product details: http://www.f-secure.com/en_US/products/home-office/internet-security/ and then click on compare products.
2011 Internet Security Solutions That Haven’t Been Released
• AVG – Should be releasing the AVG 2011 product line around the end of September.
• McAfee – No official release date has been announced for the next release of McAfee Total Protection.
• Avast – No official release date has been announced.
• Avira – No official release data has been announced.
As an aside, AVAST Software gained its 130 millionth user at 7:52:52 (Central European Time) on September 7 according to a September 14 press release. http://www.avast.com/pr-avast-software-crosses-the-130-million-user-threshold
AVG Technologies’ Initial Public Offering (IPO)
No firm date from AVG Technologies as to when they will have their initial public offering. Originally slated for the London (UK) exchange, it may now take place on the Warsaw exchange and one other, in fact. This is according to a Reuters article dated September 15, “Czech AVG's IPO to be worth 400-800 mln EUR-sources” The Initial Public Offering may now take place in the first quarter of 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSWSF00947520100915
A September 12 Financial Times article where “bankers have signaled they are aiming for an autumn listing.” “UK tech sector poised for deal flurry” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/eed0f540-be9c-11df-a755-00144feab49a.html
The August 13 issue of the IFR European ECM Briefing had mentioned the IPO taking place in Q3/Q4. They had listed the estimated capitalization in the range of US $300m-400m. It appears as if Q3 will not happen. http://www.ifrbriefings.com/examples/euro_ecm.pdf
The flurry of acquisitions over the summer – Intel acquiring McAfee, and Hewlett Packard acquiring 3Par (at a substantial premium) and Arcsight, may have motivated AVG to slow down the offering.
See also: "AVG Technologies Prepares To Go Public" http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/07/avg-technologies-prepares-to-go-public.html
October 8 Addendum - Link to PC Magazine AVG Internet Security 2011 Review AVG IS 2011 PC Magazine Review http://tinyurl.com/366n5mg
F-Secure has now joined the companies releasing their consumer Internet Security 2011 and Anti-virus 2011 solutions. The announcement for F-Secure Internet Security 2011 and F-Secure Anti-virus 2011 took place on September 15.
About F-Secure Internet Security 2011 and Anti-virus 2011
F-Secure promotes multi-layered protection with their F-Secure Internet Security 2011 product. They state that their Browsing Protection feature will warn you which sites are safe to enter. F-Secure utilizes multiple scanning engines for the antivirus protection.
F-Secure’s DeepGuard in the cloud protection is designed to provide instant protection again new threats. F-Secure DeepGuard 2.0 incorporates a feature called Network Lookups to enable instant protection against emerging threats. It detects when a Windows application is launched and F-Secure’s Network Look-up feature asks about the application. If “the cloud” replies that the application is good, it’s allowed.
Their products also relies on some local decision logic, so there is still protection, even when there is no working network connection.
PC Magazine’s Neil Rubenking gave F-Secure Internet Security an overall score of 3.0 out of 5. He liked the interface and the small footprint of the product. Overall, he felt that the security components were “good” and that the product had potential. He favored Kaspersky or Norton over F-Secure. However. Rudimentary found fault with the product's parental control and found that the test systems were sluggish at times.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369358,00.asp
F-Secure Anti-virus 2011 scored a slightly higher at 3.5 out of 5.0 with Rubenking complimenting the product for its cloud based and reputation based detection. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369143,00.asp
F-Secure Product Testing and Certification (2010 Releases)
F-Secure has received VB100 status for the last 4 recent tests it has submitted for. http://www.virusbtn.com/vb100/archive/results?display=summary . Its Internet Security 2010 product has been certified by ICSA Labs for both cleaning and detection - https://www.icsalabs.com/products?tid_1[]=4264&x=35&y=12&=Apply . ICSA Labs' web site - www.iscalabs.com
2011 Internet Security Solutions Released
The lines below contain feature checklists for a number of each of the company's products.
• BitDefender Total Security 2011 was released around August 16. For product details - http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/total-security.
• Kaspersky - Kaspersky announced Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 on August 16 For product details -http://usa.kaspersky.com/products_services/compare/
• Panda Security – Panda Internet Security Suite 2011 was announced on July 27. For product details - http://www.pandasecurity.com/usa/homeusers/solutions/
• Webroot - Webroot Internet Security Complete 2011 was announced on July 26. For product details http://www.webroot.com/En_US/consumer-compare.html
• Symantec – Symantec introduced their Norton consumer security solutions in early September. For product details: http://www.symantec.com/norton/products/charts/comparison.jsp?pcid=mp
• Trend Micro - Trend Micro introduced their Titanium product line in early September. For product details: http:// Trend us.trendmicro.com/us/products/personal/titanium-maximum-security/ and click on “product comparison”
• F-Secure - F-Secure announced their internet security product line on September 15. For product details: http://www.f-secure.com/en_US/products/home-office/internet-security/ and then click on compare products.
2011 Internet Security Solutions That Haven’t Been Released
• AVG – Should be releasing the AVG 2011 product line around the end of September.
• McAfee – No official release date has been announced for the next release of McAfee Total Protection.
• Avast – No official release date has been announced.
• Avira – No official release data has been announced.
As an aside, AVAST Software gained its 130 millionth user at 7:52:52 (Central European Time) on September 7 according to a September 14 press release. http://www.avast.com/pr-avast-software-crosses-the-130-million-user-threshold
AVG Technologies’ Initial Public Offering (IPO)
No firm date from AVG Technologies as to when they will have their initial public offering. Originally slated for the London (UK) exchange, it may now take place on the Warsaw exchange and one other, in fact. This is according to a Reuters article dated September 15, “Czech AVG's IPO to be worth 400-800 mln EUR-sources” The Initial Public Offering may now take place in the first quarter of 2011. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSWSF00947520100915
A September 12 Financial Times article where “bankers have signaled they are aiming for an autumn listing.” “UK tech sector poised for deal flurry” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/eed0f540-be9c-11df-a755-00144feab49a.html
The August 13 issue of the IFR European ECM Briefing had mentioned the IPO taking place in Q3/Q4. They had listed the estimated capitalization in the range of US $300m-400m. It appears as if Q3 will not happen. http://www.ifrbriefings.com/examples/euro_ecm.pdf
The flurry of acquisitions over the summer – Intel acquiring McAfee, and Hewlett Packard acquiring 3Par (at a substantial premium) and Arcsight, may have motivated AVG to slow down the offering.
See also: "AVG Technologies Prepares To Go Public" http://kensek.blogspot.com/2010/07/avg-technologies-prepares-to-go-public.html
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