Cyber startup's 1500% share price surge highlights dramatic turnaround
Cyber startup's 1500% share price surge highlights dramatic turnaround
The value of Alarum, a dual-listed company with shares traded in Tel Aviv and New York, is close to $200 million
After its stock value increased by around 15 times in the past year, making it the best-performing stock on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, the technology company Alarum (formerly Safe-T) also broke a record in quarterly revenues. The company's revenues in the first quarter of this year rose to NIS 30.7 million (approximately $8.2 million) compared to NIS 21.1 million ($5.7 million) in the corresponding quarter, marking an increase of 47%. Additionally, Alarum posted a net profit of NIS 10.36 million ($2.8 million) compared to a loss of NIS 2.5 million in the corresponding period. The EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization) also reached a record of $3.2 million, compared to $100,000 in the corresponding quarter.
The value of Alarum, a dual-listed company with shares traded in Tel Aviv and New York, reached 732 million shekels ($200 million) on Wednesday after its stock rose by around 1,500% in the last 12 months. Alarum went public in New York at a $36 million valuation in 2015,
Alarum (meaning "warning" in Latin) is a global provider of privacy and cybersecurity solutions for private consumers and business organizations. The company's services protect customers' online activities and shield them from ransomware, viruses, and phishing. Last year, the company made a strategic change by reducing its activities related to access problems for private customers to lower expenses and manpower. Despite this, the company still provides services in this field and collects payments from existing customers.
Alongside the reduction in infrastructure activity, Alarum is focusing its efforts, mainly through its subsidiary NetNut, which manages networks for companies' infrastructure, to increase revenues and better serve customers. The company also launched a new product, Unblocker Website, which enables access to and collection of online data, including observing the behavior of internet users and entities without being detected by bot detection solutions.
"This year we launched the product and already from the first day we had customers for the beta version," Alarum CEO Shachar Daniel said on Tuesday in an investor call. "The customers expressed high levels of satisfaction and most converted the trial phase into a product purchase. It is still developing, and we will strive to improve the initial version. We are working around the clock to develop a new product that relies on artificial intelligence, which we will launch in the coming months." Daniel further added that the increase in AI activity in the industry boosts demand for data collection and analysis, which should enhance the demand for the company's products.
Following the increase in revenues and the transition to profits, the company's cash balance at the end of the quarter stood at $15 million. During the investor call, the company updated that the management does not have a clear goal regarding the immediate use of the cash but may open another department or acquire another company in the long term.
