Shares in cybersecurity company Darktrace jumped by as much as 10% today as the firm posted annual recurring revenue growth of nearly 25%.
In its latest trading update, London-listed Darktrace reported that ARR for the six months ended 31 December 2023 increased by 24.3% to $701.7m (£550.9m).
The Cambridge-headquartered company said the growth was down to the rollout of its go-to-market strategy, which had a “larger impact on sales activity” than expected.
Darktrace narrowed its guidance range for year-over-year constant currency ARR growth from 21-23% to 21.5-23%.
“Following the roll-out of significant go-to-market changes that impacted performance in our first quarter, we were very pleased to see the resulting benefits play out in our strong second quarter financial performance,” said Darktrace CFO Cathy Graham.
“Looking forward, we expect to emerge from a period of relative market uncertainty in an even stronger position, and well-placed to capitalise on the large market opportunity for our AI-powered cyber security products as attackers capitalise on the availability of increasingly sophisticated tools and tactics, including generative AI.”
The trading update comes as CEO Poppy Gustafsson prepares to face questioning from lawyers as part of the fraud trial of Mike Lynch.
Lynch, who helped launch Darktrace as the owner of Invoke Capital, is facing a criminal trial over accusations of fraud relating to the sale of his company Autonomy, which was acquired by HP in 2011.
Autonomy was an enterprise software firm with many former employees now making up the management of Darktrace, including Gustafsson.