Strong dollar puts dampener on Sophos' growth

Adjusted billing soar by a quarter

Sophos' billings surged by a quarter in Q2, the security vendor revealed in its first trading update as a public company.

Fresh from floating on the LSE in June, Sophos revealed that adjusted billings hiked 24.6 per cent year on year in the three months to 30 June on the back of solid growth in the US, EMEA and AsiaPac.

On an as-reported basis, however, the growth was less than half that figure as currency headwinds dragged back the dollar total. Reported billings rose 11.5 per cent to $113.3m.

Kris Hagerman, CEO of Sophos, said in a statement: "We are pleased to report continued strength across all regions and product categories in the first quarter.

"Given this encouraging start, we remain confident in our expectations for the full financial year as we deliver on our strategy to be the best in the world at delivering complete, enterprise-grade IT security for mid-market organisations and the channel that serves them."

Adjusted billings in EMEA rose 23.1 per cent to $56.6m, with the US and AsiaPac totals rising by 21.6 per cent to $38m and 37.5 per cent to $18.7m, respectively.

Total revenue rose 8.4 per cent year on year to $113.5m, while cash EBITDA fell one per cent to $16.5m, which Sophos said reflected its decision to begin spreading marketing spend equally across the year, rather than focusing most of it in the second half.