Darktrace shares soar as outlook brightens
source link: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2022/01/11/darktrace-shares-soar-outlook-brightens/
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Darktrace shares soar as outlook brightens
Stock jumps on upgraded sales forecasts in reverse of fortunes for tech firm
11 January 2022 • 12:57pm
Darktrace shares soared on Tuesday after the cybersecurity company upgraded sales forecasts, reversing a decline that has halved its value in recent months.
The stock jumped by as much as a quarter after revealing that annual revenues were expected to rise by up to 44pc.
Despite erasing some of the gains, Darktrace was 12pc higher at 441p in afternoon trading, leaving it worth almost £3.1bn.
The company, whose founding investor and second-largest shareholder is the software entrepreneur Mike Lynch, enjoyed one of London’s biggest tech flotations last year.
Shares soared in the months after its April debut but had fallen by more than 60pc from their September peak before Tuesday’s rise.
Darktrace has been hit by sceptical analyst notes and the end of a shareholder lock-up period that allowed insiders to sell.
US prosecutors who have charged Mr Lynch with fraud over the 2011 sale of his software company Autonomy have also attempted to drag Darktrace into the fray, seeking emails from executives who were at Autonomy at the time.
In a half-year trading update, Darktrace said it expected annual revenues to rise by between 42pc and 44pc, up from a previous forecast of 37pc to 39pc. It also said that its ebitda margin, a measure of profitability, would be higher than expected.
The FTSE 250 company said it expected half-year revenues to be at least $190m (£140m), an increase of at least 50pc. Sales were partly improved by the dollar weakening in recent months.
The update prompted Peel Hunt, whose downbeat analyst note had sent shares crashing in October, to upgrade its recommendation, advising clients to “hold” rather than “sell” Darktrace shares.
“Given the share price has now approached our target price, we pause for breath and move from Sell to Hold,” the broker said. Peel Hunt had previously said that Darktrace’s marketing was not matched by reality.
Analysts at Berenberg said Darktrace shares “have clearly been caught in a web of misinformation, which we think today’s update will serve to break”.
Mr Lynch, who owns 17.5pc of Darktrace along with his wife Angela Bacares, is fighting extradition over US fraud charges, which relate to Autonomy’s £7bn sale to HP in 2011.
Mr Lynch’s legal team has said any criminal charges against him should be heard in the UK.
Darktrace has previously warned investors that the allegations could be a risk to the company.
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