One of the directors at Darktrace (DARK) sold more than 17% of their shares in the company worth £5.25 million immediately after the firm announced half year results.
Vanessa Colomar, an investor relations and corporate communications expert and who is a non-executive director of the company, sold 1 million shares in the cyber security company at a strike price of 525p on 3 March 2022. The trade was reported today (8 March).
According to company data from MarketScreener, Colomar’s stake in the business ahead of the share sale totalled 5,723,039, or 0.82% of the shares in issue. This suggests that Colomar sold nearly a fifth of her stake in Darktrace.
The share trade was actioned on the same day that Darktrace released what analysts described as a ‘cracking set of results’ for the first half of its fiscal 2022 year, which ends 30 June 2022, and upgraded guidance.
IMPRESSIVE GROWTH
The half year figures showed revenue in the six months to 31 December 2021 up 52% to $193 million which implies annual recurring revenues up 46% to $427 million. Importantly, the results also eased concerns over churn, an issue that had worried investors.
Gross annual recurring revenue churn was cut from 8% to 6.4%, implying fewer customers are turning to alternative cyber security providers and sticking with the company.
This helped power profits even higher, with adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation jumping 125% to $46.7 million.
GROWTH GUIDANCE HIKE
‘The strong momentum so far, and despite some sales restructuring in the second half, should result in a stronger than expected full year performance,’ said Megabuyte analyst Indraneel Arampatta in response to the figures.
Management upgraded revenue growth guidance from 42% to 44% to the higher 44.5% to 46.5% range and, significantly, upgraded adjusted EBITDA margin guidance from 3% to 6% to 10% to 12%.
The shares jumped more than 11% on the day of the half year figures to close at 511.5p, although the stock has eased off a little since, changing hands at 488.4p on 8 March.
