Quick Heal shares plunge 14% on disappointing Q4

Shares of Quick Heal Technologies tumbled nearly 14% in early trade to hit a 52-week low on Tuesday amid heavy selling after the cybersecurity software company reported weak earnings for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2023. The stock has fallen 15.5% in the last two sessions as compared to 1.2% fall in the BSE Sensex.

Quick Heal shares opened 12.2% lower at ₹129.65 against the previous closing price of ₹147.70 on the BSE. During the session so far, the smallcap stock plunged 13.8% to touch a 52-week low of ₹127.35, while the market capitalisation dropped to ₹727 crore.

The stock has fallen over 43% in the last seven months, from its 52-week high of ₹225.30 touched on September 9, 2022. In the last one year, the software firm has lost 29%, while it has tumbled 33% in the past six months. In the calendar year 2023, the counter has fallen nearly 21%, while it slipped over 2% in a month. In the last one week, the stock has dipped over 6%.

Quick Heal shares got hammered as investors weighed disappointing March quarter earnings report, which was released post market hours on Monday. The Pune-based company reported a consolidated net loss of ₹6.6 crore in the quarter under review as compared to ₹28.09 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The consolidated revenue from operations plunged 52.5% to ₹49.3 crore in Q4FY23 as compared to ₹103.7 crore in the corresponding period last year.

On the operational front, the security software solution provider posted EBITDA loss of ₹16.17 crore against EBITDA profit of ₹34.88 in the same period last year.

The total expenses of the company increased marginally by 0.22% to ₹63.88 crore versus ₹64.02 crore in the year ago period.

The management in its earnings report said that the long-term growth of the industry remains positive, while it witnessed headwinds in the medium-short term. The sudden decrease in IT spending since H2FY22 remains key concerns for the market. The trend is visible across the global software industry, which is expected to continue in the upcoming quarter, Quick Heal said in its report.

In a separate filing, Quick Heal announced the appointment of Ankit Maheshwari as the Chief Financial Officer, effective from April 26, 2023. He is a Chartered Accountant with 20 years of diverse experience. Further, his experience spans across multiple industries, including Power, Retail, Telecom, IT enabled services, Shared Services, KPO and Manufacturing, both at regional and corporate levels, it said.

As per the company, Ankit has worked closely with CEOs and Apex Leadership teams in charting growth paths and building performance-oriented organisations.

Quick Heal Technologies is one of the leading providers of IT security and data protection solutions with a strong footprint in India and an evolving global presence. Incorporated in 1995, the company is an all-round player in cybersecurity with presence in B2B, B2G and B2C segments across multiple product categories – endpoints, network, data and mobility. Its portfolio includes solutions under the widely recognised brand names ‘Quick Heal’ and ‘Seqrite’ across various operating systems and devices.