WH Ireland Analyst speaks about Defenx PLC LON:DFX this morning: “Defenx has announced that it has expanded its channel partner network, announcing the signing of three new channel partner agreements this morning. These include Itway SpA (BIT:ITW; MCap: €11m; €1.56; N/C), an ICT specialist in Southern Europe, the Middle East and Africa; Ringo.com, a Mobile Virtual Network Operator; and MCR Media Group, a European leader in mobile value-added services to more than 30 carriers around the world.
Defenx has a unique business model of pursuing revenue sharing agreements with its channel partners rather than directly targeting end users. Defenx’s sales are predominantly through channel partners, who include mobile operators, OEMs and other third party distributers, including blue chip companies such as 3Italia (H3G) and Seagate; amongst others. Since inception in 2009 the company has sold over 3.1m licences, the majority of which have been for its mobile anti-malware solution.
Whilst we are pleased to see Defenx add three new channel partners to its list of resellers, we leave our estimates unchanged today. Defenx is a quality business within the fast growing cybersecurity space, with a robust product and bluechip channel partners, and currently trades on 9.4x 2016E earnings (a 46% discount to peer group at 17.3x), declining to 4.9x in 2017E (65% discount to peer group at 14.2x).
