Tesserent gets revenue boost from recent swathe of acquisitions

Cyber security specialist Tesserent has posted earnings of $4.6 million from revenue of $43.9 million following the integration of the company’s recent swathe of acquisitions and investments.

In the last year, the company acquired or invested in six companies including Secure Logic, Loop Secure, Daltrey, Pearson Corp and Claricent. It made acquisitions of three businesses, across public and private sector consulting services, managed services and software development.

During the half-year ended 31 December 2021, the company reported a total sales turnover of $62.9 million, statutory revenue of $43.9 million and operational earnings of $4.6 million. Growth in earnings (EBITDA) was 105 percent for the current quarter and 116 percent for the first half of the financial year over the first half of the last financial year.

The company was also the recipient of the Editorial Award in the 2021 CRN Fast50 for outstanding growth through acquisition.

The ASX-listed company told shareholders that the first half of FY22 “represented a period of continued growth” and “strategic consolidation of the businesses acquired in the previous two financial years”.

Tesserent said its annualised recurring revenue as a proportion of total annual sales has been growing strongly

“The management team has successfully executed its brand and business unit integration strategy – strengthening Tesserent’s commercial position in the market by enabling the Group to enhance its value proposition to existing and new clients and improve gross margins and net margins reported across the business,” said Tesserent boss Kurt Hansen, who was named sole CEO in November last year.

Recurring revenue as a proportion of total annual sales has been growing over recent years and Tesserent said this reached 44 percent in the first half of the financial year up from 36 percent at the same time last year.

“Given the significant events that are occurring in eastern Europe, we are also mindful of the heightened level of cyber security risk that exist for Tesserent clients,” the company told shareholders in its results presentation.

In a separate statement, Hansen said the Russian invasion was causing a lot of confusion.

“Cyber-criminals will try to exploit this stress when carrying out attacks. Everyone needs to be reminded to be on their guard and to check links they are clicking online and not forget to take the necessary precautions,” he said.

“There is increasing concern that Australia’s sanctions against Russia might provoke state-based attackers seeking to cause collateral damage in critical infrastructure - hospitals, electricity, gas, water, tolls and so forth. All of Australia’s critical infrastructure is connected to the internet, so there is a large attack surface. It is also critical to be aware that cybercriminals from other locations may also attempt to exploit the chaos.”