Straws are discrete research notes that relate to a particular aspect of the company. Grouped under #hashtags, they are ranked by votes.
A good Straw offers a clear and concise perspective on the company and its prospects.
Please visit the forums tab for general discussion.
26-Feb-2021 (after market close): Half Year Report - commentary plus Half Year Report and Accounts - not audit reviewed and ASIC extension to lodge Half Year Report
Tesserent Limited (ASX:TNT) is pleased to provide the Company’s Half Yearly Report (Appendix 4D) for the half-year ended 31 December 2020. The Board notes the following points regarding the progress of the Company’s strategy and performance during and after the reporting period.
Key Highlights for H1 FY21
Notes:
The H2 FY21 Results will benefit from:
--- for the remainder of this announcement, and the other two announcements released by TNT after market close on Friday, click on the links at the top ---
17-Dec-2020: Tesserent acquires NZ based Lateral Security
TESSERENT ENTERS NEW ZEALAND MARKET WITH FIRST STRATEGIC ACQUISITION OF LOCAL CYBERSECURITY FIRM
--- click on the link above for the full announcement ---
14-Dec-2020: Update/Tesserent listed on ASX All Tech Index
TESSERENT LISTED ON ALL TECH INDEX AS STRONG, ORGANIC GROWTH CONTINUES
Tesserent Limited (ASX:TNT) is pleased to announce its listing on the S&P/ASX All Technology Index (All Tech Index) as announced on 11 December 2020. This comes as a result of our strong overall market performance during 2020, with continued significant organic growth across existing Group companies.
Tesserent listed on the All Tech Index
The All Tech Index represents the ASX’s fastest-growing sector, shining the spotlight on Australia’s leading technology companies. With TNT’s addition to the All Tech Index, the Company joins firms including Afterpay (ASX:APT), REA Group (ASX:REA) and Xero (ASX:XRO).
This achievement is a significant milestone for Tesserent and validates the Company’s growth strategy, highlighting the sustained, exponential growth TNT has realised in the past 12 months.
Julian Challingsworth, TNT’s Co-CEO, commented; “We’re delighted with the ongoing recognition of Tesserent’s continued growth. Being added to the All Tech Index is a real acknowledgement of the success of our growth strategy and opens TNT up to new investors and funds that follow and invest in indices”.
Synergies & Growth Update
In addition to the 135% YoY EBITDA growth in our Federal Government division as announced on 9 December 2020, the Company is also pleased to report continued strong organic cross-sell growth across its entire group of companies.
Major wins so far this quarter include 12 services agreements across Federal, State and Local Governments, as well as Financial Services Groups and Property Developers.
Kurt Hansen, TNT’s Co-CEO, commented; “We’re delighted with the continuing collaboration and significant cross-sell opportunities that are being realised within the group. We’ve already seen significant success, and expect this trend to continue into 2021 as we expand locally and abroad”.
The Company looks forward to keeping the market updated on the progress of our growth strategy, together with our next full quarterly report at the conclusion of Q2 FY21.
--- ends ---
ABOUT TESSERENT: Tesserent provides full service, enterprise-grade Cyber Security and networking solutions targeted at midmarket, enterprise and government customers across Australia. The Company’s Cyber 360 strategy delivers integrated solutions covering identification, protection and 24/7 monitoring against Cyber Security threats. With in excess of 220 security engineers, Tesserent has the capability to support organisations defend their digital assets against increasing risks and cyber-attacks.
Tesserent has been transformed via the acquisition of several high-quality Cyber Security businesses including Pure Security, Rivium, North Security, Seer Security, Airloom, Ludus Security and iQ3, making it Australia’s largest listed dedicated Cyber Security firm.
Learn more at www.tesserent.com.
[I no longer hold TNT, having sold out on valuation grounds to lock in substantial profits, however they are still on my Strawman.com scorecard. If I had more more capital to invest, TNT is a company I would like to still be holding in at least one of my real life portfolios.]
09-Dec-2020: Significant earnings growth for North earn out
TNT’S STRATEGY TO TARGET FEDERAL GOVERNMENT RESULTS IN SIGNIFICANT EARNINGS GROWTH
Tesserent Limited (ASX:TNT) is pleased to announce that North Security, our Federal Government team, has exceeded Company expectations, increasing earnings from $766K in FY19 to $1.8M in FY20 which represents in excess of 135% YoY growth.
The Company expects this growth trend to continue across the entire Federal Government division in FY21. This growth is being driven by a combination of increased Federal Government cybersecurity spending as announced by PM Scott Morrison on 6 August 2020 together with Tesserent’s increasingly strong reputation in the Canberra market.
Tesserent’s Co-CEO, Julian Challingsworth, commented; “We are extremely pleased to announce that our Canberra team, headed up by George Katavic, has been a significant contributor to Tesserent’s overall market performance. 2020 has seen the Company’s enterprise value and share price increase exponentially, resulting in George and his team deservedly achieving their FY20 earnout, significantly exceeding their revenue and earnings targets”.
As previously announced on 23 March 2020, Tesserent acquired North Security for $5.3M consisting of a $1.25M cash payment, 20M fully paid ordinary shares at 10c on completion, plus four deferred sixmonthly payments of $512K over a two-year period. The North Security earnout payment is 2 x the difference between FY19 and FY20 audited earnings, resulting in a $2.2M earnout figure. The earnout is to be paid one-third cash and two-thirds shares (based on a 60-day VWAP ending 30 June 2020).
Whilst this now concludes North’s earnout period, George and his team as significant shareholders remain focused on continuing to drive Tesserent’s Canberra operation and increasing shareholder value.
--- ends ---
I was a TNT shareholder, but have sold out recently on valuation grounds. The company is still on my Strawman.com scorecard however - and showing a gain over over +350% at this point. Just because a company looks overvalued by the market doesn't mean their share price won't just keep heading north. So I'm not saying they are a sell here, just that I see better risk/reward scenarios/opportunities elsewhere. For example, AVA have more than doubled from my buy price, but I see plenty of further upside with AVA as well as catalysts that can drive their SP higher, so I still hold AVA. If I had more investable capital, I would likely still hold TNT as well. I like the saying, "Let your winners run," although in my case I tend to lock in profits when I think they've run too hard. If TNT had been a larger position, I would have trimmed the position instead of selling out. That's what I've done with AVA and MAQ - and Codan (CDA) which is not even on my Strawman.com scorecard but has been one of my biggest winners over the past couple of years - I've trimmed those positions back to a desired weighting every now and then. However I never held enough TNT to make that strategy worthwhile. I've done it on my Strawman.com scorecard (trimmed TNT) but not in real life because my real-life position in TNT just wasn't large enough to start with - unfortunately!! They've done VERY well!
30-Oct-2020: Appendix 4C - TNT Quarterly Report
This announcement has been uploaded directly from TNT's website: https://tesserent.com/investor-center/investor-detail/
06-Oct-2020: Integration synergies update
TESSERENT MAKES KEY APPOINTMENTS AND DELIVERS ORGANIC GROWTH FROM ACQUISITION SYNERGIES
Tesserent Limited (ASX:TNT), having now acquired several high-value cybersecurity businesses in recent months is pleased to update the market on a number of key appointments and its activities to accelerate organic revenue growth through cross-selling synergies and the integration of brands, people, systems and processes.
New Appointments
The Company is pleased to announce the appointment of two key executives in senior roles to help drive integration and synergies across the Group.
Peter Fearns, has been appointed as the new Group CFO (starting November 2020). Peter has extensive back-office integration experience from previous executive roles at UXC and ANZ Banking Group. During his time at UXC, Peter oversaw the integration of 35+ separate businesses under the UXC corporate umbrella and is a welcome addition to the TNT Executive Team.
In addition, the Company has also recently appointed a Head of Synergies, Nathan Knox, to ensure a coordinated approach to understanding Group capabilities and appropriate processes are in place to educate and drive cross-selling opportunities. With a background in similar roles at ASX100 Companies and Government agencies including NBN Co, Coles and Woolworths, Nathan is well suited to spearhead the Company’s synergies strategy.
Sales and Synergy Wins - Update
Processes around cross-organisational cooperation, ensuring Group collaboration on responses to RFIs and sharing panels are now in place. Processes are also now in place to ensure core offerings such as iQ3s Cloud Security and Airloom’s leading Cloud Security Architecture, as well as Pure Security’s SOC services are made available to support North Security’s Federal Government bids.
There have been a number of significant wins resulting from co-selling strategies between business units over the last quarter, underpinning the achieved target of $100m gross revenue annualised run rate. Some of the more notable Group wins include:
Brands Strategy
The core objective of the Company’s acquisition strategy is to fill key capabilities in the firm’s Cyber 360 end-to-end cybersecurity offering. With a broad cybersecurity offering with clearly defined market segments now in place, the Company is focused on unlocking synergies to maximise organic revenue growth.
Tesserent Limited, the parent company and corporate-facing brand has two primary customer-facing go-to-market brands:
Future Cyber 360 capabilities that are required, such as iQ3's Secure Cloud Services and other potential proprietary solutions, will be strategically positioned to complement the above strategy.
Systems And Processes Integration
As previously announced, at a Group level, the Company has completed a significant milestone toward back-office integration with the financial integration of all business units onto one system, Oracle NetSuite. This single integrated financial management system now enables integration of new acquisitions onto a common core financial platform that optimises and lowers transaction processing costs across an expanding Group.
The new financial year also saw Tesserent’s original Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) business and Rivium absorbed into the Pure Security business. The MSSP business now operates under a single Pure Security brand.
The Company looks forward to providing the market with additional information and guidance on our synergy strategy in future updates and the upcoming 4C Commentary.
ABOUT TESSERENT
Tesserent provides full service, enterprise-grade Cyber Security and networking solutions targeted at midmarket, enterprise and government customers across Australia. The Company’s Cyber 360 strategy delivers integrated solutions covering identification, protection and 24/7 monitoring against Cyber Security threats. With in excess of 220 security engineers, Tesserent has the capability to support organisations defend their digital assets against increasing risks and cyber-attacks.
Tesserent has been transformed via the acquisition of several high-quality Cyber Security businesses including Pure Security, Rivium, North Security, Seer Security, Airloom, Ludus Security and IQ3, making it Australia’s largest listed dedicated Cyber Security firm.
Learn more at: www.tesserent.com
24-Sep-2020: TNT Acquires iQ3
TESSERENT ACQUIRES IQ3, A MAJOR PRIVATE CLOUD PROVIDER FOR SECURE DATA
Tesserent Limited (ASX:TNT) is pleased to announce the strategic acquisition of iQ3 with the signing of a Share Purchase Agreement executed between both parties on the 23 September 2020.
This acquisition sees the Company expeditiously achieve its goal of $100M turnover on an annualised basis, marking an increase of in excess of one thousand percent since the refresh of the Tesserent board in January 2020.
iQ3 Acquisition
iQ3 is a Secure Cloud Services firm headquartered in Sydney with facilities in Melbourne and Brisbane, and a sales office in Singapore. The firm’s services and solution offering materially complements Tesserent’s Cyber 360 strategy and represents a significant step forward in the Company’s ability to provide a full end-to-end cyber service.
Geoff Lord, TNT’s Chairman, commented; “the addition of Secure Cloud Services to our Solution portfolio is a strategic piece to our Cyber 360 offering that takes us one step closer to executing our strategic go-to-market vision”.
iQ3 provides services to Internationally established brands in Australia and Singapore, with particularly strong ties to NSW State and Local governments. The firm has been delivering secure cloud infrastructure and related services to a long list of government agencies including 25 NSW Government departments, both directly out of GovDC and the NSW Government’s official procurement program, ‘buy.nsw’ since 2010.
The firm has an excellent operating record, with FY20 turnover in excess of $25M, delivering $3M EBITDA (subject to audit) and is immediately earnings, cash flow and EPS accretive to the TNT Group. Strong revenue and earnings are expected to continue into FY21. Importantly, more than 70% of iQ3’s revenue comes from multiple recurring multi-year annuity-based contracts. The TNT Group now has in excess of $30M annual recurring revenue from multiple locked-in multi-year contracts.
The consideration for the acquisition of iQ3 is a mix of cash and TNT shares, being $8.6M in cash and 34.6M shares issued at $0.2496 per share. The cash component is fully funded from existing cash reserves being $4.3M on completion and four deferred quarterly payments of $1.07M over a 12-month period.
Mr. Lord added; “We’re extremely pleased to welcome iQ3 into the Group, Craig Humphreys, iQ3’s Managing Director, has proven to be a talented operator. It’s also particularly pleasing to have achieved our $100M turnover run rate well before December which now gives us a solid base for material future growth”.
Synergy Benefits and Opportunities
By introducing iQ3 into the Group, there are considerable Cyber 360 cross-sell and up-sell opportunities at a customer, geographic and solution level. Tesserent envisages significant sales opportunities for iQ3 Secure Cloud Services to existing TNT Group customers, whilst selling the Group’s core services to iQ3 customers in Australia and Singapore.
There are also notable benefits associated with iQ3’s ISO-certified Network Operations Centre (NOC) and TNT’s existing ISO-certified Security Operations Centre (SOC) in relation to the delivery of associated Cloud, Connectivity and new Managed Security Services capabilities.
In addition, the Company sees an immediate opportunity to leverage State and Federal Government relationships and capabilities within the Group, particularly North, Seer, Ludus and iQ3.
Mr Humphreys commented; “Joining Tesserent is a natural strategic evolution for iQ3. The delivery of cloud services is becoming more and more security-centric and we now have the ability to significantly grow the business by providing our clients with that end-to-end secure cloud and cybersecurity solution they’re looking for”.
Julian Challingsworth, TNT’s CEO, commented; “The addition of Secure Cloud Services into our Cyber 360 strategy creates substantial opportunities, particularly as organisations transition to mobile and remote workforces as a result of COVID-19. We have already been providing tactical advice to our clients in this area, so enabling these services is a natural next-step for Tesserent.”
Mr Challingsworth added; “The models deployed by Cloud and Data Management firms like Megaport who are realising multi-billion dollar market caps through the deployment of smart technology with comparative annual recurring revenue to TNT are very interesting to us”.
The Company looks forward to keeping the market updated on the progress of further acquisitions in the near future.
ABOUT TESSERENT
Tesserent provides full service, enterprise-grade Cyber Security and networking solutions targeted at midmarket, enterprise and government customers across Australia. The Company’s Cyber 360 strategy delivers integrated solutions covering identification, protection and 24/7 monitoring against Cyber Security threats. With in excess of 180 security engineers, Tesserent has the capability to support organisations defend their digital assets against increasing risks and cyber-attacks.
Tesserent has been transformed via the acquisition of several high-quality Cyber Security businesses including Pure Security, Rivium, North Security, Seer Security, Airloom and Ludus Security, making it Australia’s largest listed dedicated Cyber Security firm.
Learn more at www.tesserent.com.
--- click on link above for the full announcement ---
[I hold TNT shares.]
31-Aug-2020: After Market Close: Preliminary Final Report
--- click on the link above for more ---
I don't actually hold TNT shares - although I wish I did - I wouldn't be buying them up here though. I do hold MAQ shares, which is my preferred ASX-listed cybersecurity exposure. They've also has a good year, except MAQ actually are already consistently profitable. Again, I wouldn't be buying MAQ up at current levels either. TNT and MAQ are both on my Strawman.com scorecard. I reckon TNT is probably the best performer on my scorecard, or would be close to it.
20-7-2020: Tesserent (TNT) Achieves FY20 Financial Objective and secures debt facility
Tesserent Limited (ASX: TNT) is pleased to announce that it has achieved two significant milestones.
Firstly, the previously announced FY20 financial objectives have been met:
The Company will provide a comprehensive Business Update and Commentary later this month accompanying the ASX Appendix 4C.
The Company has also signed an agreement with its existing debt provider, PURE Asset Management (PURE), for a new $15M Facility. The new Facility replaces the Company’s existing $5m loan and has been struck on improved terms of 8.9% per annum, well below the current interest rate of up to 11.5%. The funds will be drawn down as required to support earnings-accretive acquisitions (three of which are well progressed), as previously set out in TNT’s Cyber-360 Strategy. The primary terms of the debt facility are provided in the table below and include new warrants with an exercise price of 12 cents.
Geoff Lord, TNT Chairman, commented; “we’re extremely pleased to be working with PURE Asset Management who continue to support the firm’s vision and strategy. This new facility provides the funding cornerstone to continue to drive the Company’s acquisition strategy with minimal dilutionary impact on our existing shareholders”.
Nick Berry, PURE Director, commented: “We are pleased to further our support of Tesserent as it continues to add scale and capability to the business. Cyber Security is a leading agenda item for all Australian company boards, and as a trusted Australian provider to a range of government agencies and leading corporates, Tesserent is well positioned for success. Recent news flow from the Morrison Government only strengthens the likelihood of the industry continuing to deliver structural growth materially in excess of GDP”.
Mr. Challingsworth added; “securing this syndicated debt facility lead by PURE, which was significantly oversubscribed, was a result of Tesserent delivering on its FY20 financial objectives and an ability to identify high quality assets contributing to the Company’s strategy. This transaction provides capacity and certainty around the funding of future acquisitions”.
The Company looks forward to updating shareholders on the progress of new acquisitions that are currently under consideration.
--- click on link above for more ---
28-Apr-2020: Appendix 4C - quarterly
This is straw #1 (of 2):
HIGHLIGHTS:
FINANCIAL UPDATE
QUARTERLY REVENUE EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS
The Company is pleased to announce that its actual Q3 revenue of $8.3m exceeded its budgeted revenue of $7.4m by $900k (or 12%).
ON TARGET TO ACHIEVE A REVENUE RUN RATE OF $40M PER ANNUM BY 30 JUNE 2020
INCREASED CUSTOMER RECEIPTS AND STRONG CASH POSITION
CUSTOMER UPDATE
Strong organic growth has seen the group’s customer base continue to grow to in excess of 800 customers, supported over the last three years including 15 Federal Government departments and agencies as a result of the north BDT acquisition. This has translated to significant sales wins during the quarter across key products of firewall, SIEM and security consulting. Most notably, the Company secured $3m Federal Government, multi-year contracts.
ACQUISITION OF NORTH BDT
Tesserent’s transformation to Australia's #1 ASX-listed end-to-end Cyber Security company in FY20 continues with the north BDT acquisition being completed in March 2020.
north BDT is a Canberra-based security consulting firm specialising in providing Cyber Security, digital strategy and governance, end-to-end application development to Federal Government clients. The acquisition provides the Company with the opportunity to leverage north’s existing customer relationships for cross sales into Tesserent’s cyber offerings. north BDT has a strong operating record, having delivered $8.3m revenue to 31 March 2020 and is projected to exceed $12m in their current financial year. The Company is continuing to explore additional acquisitions and will keep the market updated as these initiatives progress.
COVID-19 UPDATE
As per the Company’s COVID-19 Update to the market on 16 April 2020, the Company has recently secured new business wins of more than $5 million. This, in addition to significant existing lockedin, long-term contracts with multiple Federal Government departments and agencies and multiyear managed security services income means the Company expects minimal negative impact on its financial performance in the June quarter.
The Company’s strong cash position, new business wins and existing contracted revenue sees the business well placed to weather the current economic conditions over the short to medium term. Should this situation change, the Company will keep the market informed.
FUTURE FOCUS
The Board and Management team are focused on continuing to build Tesserent’s position as Australia’s #1 ASX-listed Cyber Security provider by achieving several important goals over the coming months:
...click on link above for more...
See separate straw (straw #2) for "IMPACT OF VIRGIN AUSTRALIA AIRLINES (VIRGIN) PLACED IN VOLUNTARY ADMINISTRATION (VA)"
This is Straw #2 (of 2) concerning TNT's March 2020 Quarterly Report [it wouldn't fit in straw #1]
IMPACT OF VIRGIN AUSTRALIA AIRLINES (VIRGIN) PLACED IN VOLUNTARY ADMINISTRATION (VA)
Virgin is a significant customer for our leading Splunk practice, Rivium. As a result of Virgin being placed into VA, there is a potential reduction of Rivium’s FY20 revenue of up to $1.5m. This includes a limited exposure to invoices that are currently with the administrator (<$100k) the more significant impact is the work that was scheduled and or expected to be delivered in Q4 of FY20. We look forward to Virgin coming out of VA quickly and in a stronger position and look forward to working with them in the future.
The potential loss of revenue does not impact Tesserent’s expectation of $10m revenue in Q4 2020.
26-Mar-2020: Tesserent completes acquisition of north BDT
Post a valuation or endorse another member's valuation.