Darktrace swings to profit; takeover talks with Thoma Bravo terminated

Cybersecurity company Darktrace confirmed on Thursday that takeover talks with Thoma Bravo have been terminated as the tech investment firm does not plan to make an offer.

Darktrace first announced on 15 August that it was in talks with Thoma Bravo, after it received a number of unsolicited, preliminary and conditional proposals from the group.

However, it said on Thursday that the two parties had been unable to reach an agreement on the terms of a firm offer.

News of the terminated talks came alongside Darktrace’s results for the year to 30 June, in which it lifted its full-year revenues expectations and said it swung to a net profit.

The company swung to a net profit of $1.5m from a loss of $145.8m the year before. It said the FY 2021 loss was largely driven by $109.2m in finance costs related to the now extinguished convertible loan notes.

Meanwhile, revenues grew 45.7% to $415.5m. Based on its final FY 2022 revenue, Darktrace lifted its expectations for FY 2023 revenue growth to between 30% and 33%, from between 29% and 32%.

Chief executive Poppy Gustafsson said: "We have a proven business model, which is generating cash. Today's results are yet another example of our strong performance. Being listed on the London Stock Exchange is exactly where we want to be right now."

At 0810 BST, the shares were down 28% at 370p.