Sophos takes IPO plunge

Security vendor reveals billings topped £300m last year as it gears up to float on the LSE

Sophos Group has announced plans to move forward with an initial public offering (IPO), introducing the company to the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

Admission is expected to happen in early July 2015 with shares listing around the same time in what analysts have highlighted will be one of the LSE's largest-ever software debuts. It aims to raise £65m through the move.

Sophos also revealed a 22.6 per cent increase in billings to about $476m (£312m) by the end of its financial year, along with cash EBITDA of about £66.3m in its year ending 31 March 2015.

Peter Gyenes, non-executive chairman of Sophos, said: "Sophos has delivered strong returns and has built a solid foundation for the next stage of its development and growth in the public markets. I believe Sophos is strongly positioned for continued market growth and impact."

The vendor provides its cloud and network security portfolio to more than 200,000 organisations and over 100 million end users in 150 countries.

It found success in the mid-market, which Sophos believes was previously underserved by IT security vendors who were more focused on large enterprises.

According to Sophos, mid-market clients represented 72 per cent $18bn (£11.8bn) of total IT security spend last year globally.

Commenting on the news, analyst Megabuyte said: "Almost regardless of the valuation, Sophos will be the largest software IPO in London for many years; significantly surpassing Servelec, which floated in 2013, valuing the company at £122m.

"Given its strong position in one of the hottest parts of the tech sector, there seems little doubt that there will be substantial investor interest in the IPO."