VAR Softcat has reported a 17% increase in sales for the first half ended 31 January, 2025. Sales stood at £546m for the period.
In addition, operating profit jumped 10.5% to £74m. The interim dividend went up 5% to 9p.
Graham Charlton, Softcat CEO, said: “We have continued to successfully implement our strategy, resulting in a first half performance slightly above our initial expectations and an upgrade to full year guidance, despite the persistent backdrop of generally more challenging trading conditions.”
Earlier this week, fellow VAR Computacenter reported barely growing year-end sales and a drop in profits, while VAR Bytes Technology Group reported solid increases in both for the year.
- Avidex, a global AV integrator specialising in the design, integration, and support of collaborative AV solutions, has acquired Visual Commands, an AV programming and design consultant known for its expertise in custom programming, control system coding, automation, and remote monitoring service solutions.
Monty Champoux, president of Visual Commands, will join Avidex as chief technology officer, where he will lead technology strategy and innovation across Avidex’s portfolio. The entire Visual Commands team has transferred to Avidex.
-Google yesterday announced the acquisition of cloud security upstart Wiz for a massive $32 billion. Forrester analyst Andras Cser, said of the surprising move, after Wiz had only just recently added to its substantial private equity coffers: “While Google Cloud Platform (GCP) has been investing in built-in CNAPP capabilities for their own platform’s native security with success, these tools have predominantly focused only on protecting GCP endpoints/assets. After Microsoft’s 2021 early acquisition of CloudKnox and development of Defender for Cloud, Google is feeling the pressure to offer a true, multi-cloud-capable CNAPP tool given that so many organisations are multi-cloud today.
“Forrester expects that, post-acquisition, most current CNAPP capabilities in GCP (CSPM, CIEM, agentless CWP) will be replaced by Wiz’s offering and remain with multi-cloud support.”
A CNAPP, or Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform, is a unified security solution designed to protect cloud-native applications and workloads throughout their lifecycle, from development to runtime, by integrating security functions into a single platform.
On immense competitive pressures and potential consolidation for independent CNAPP suite vendors, Cser added: “Fortinet, Palo Alto Networks, Sysdig, Rapid7, Trend Micro and other independent CNAPP suite providers now face fierce competition from cloud infrastructure providers to stay ahead in features. This planned acquisition, plus Microsoft’s continued investments in CNAPP and app security, will make it harder for these vendors to maintain and realise their growth.”
On the response from AWS, and the need to jump on the CNAPP and cloud security bandwagon, Cser said: “While AWS has been providing Guard Duty and Config for some time, these tools fall short of capabilities of a CNAPP tool in terms of best practices and compliance template breadth and depth, and, more importantly, multi-cloud coverage.
“If AWS is to maintain its position in cloud infrastructure, it has to beef up its productised, multi-cloud CNAPP (with coverage for CSPM, CIEM, agent-based and agentless CWP, container security, and IaC scanning) and, in general, cloud security offerings.”
-Identity security leader Delinea has closed its 2024 fiscal year by delivering annual recurring revenue (ARR) “approaching” $400m, up from $300 million in FY2023 – up a third.
It has also strengthened its leadership tram with three key executive hires, including Pierre Mouallem, who has joined as chief information security officer (CISO), and Chris Kelly as president. Missy Ballew is also named as chief people officer.
-Azul, the IT services provider for Java applications and infrastructure, after completing its financial year in January, says it has seen “significant growth”, in part due to “on-going dissatisfaction with Oracle’s Java licensing policies”.
Globally, new customer bookings grew 63% year-over-year, with EMEA growing 111% in new customer bookings YoY.
New customers doing business through Azul’s channel partners increased by 79% YoY. It is now expanding its presence in Paris to oversee partnerships in France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
-Monitoring solutions firm Paessler has launched its first-ever dedicated managed service provider programme in Europe, designed to help MSPs grow their businesses through a “scalable, predictable, and profitable model”.
Paessler’s new MSP Programme promises to provide a “flexible, service-led model” that enables MSPs to expand their offerings with “scalable” licensing, “enhanced” collaboration, and co-marketing investment.
-Rival monitoring firm Centreon concluded 2024 with a 23% increase in overall revenue compared to 2023. The most significant results for Centreon in 2024 included:
34% growth in software subscriptions, driven by an acceleration in new customer acquisitions favouring the SaaS model
219% growth in cloud offering revenue
130 new customer sign-ups, including: DC Blox (US), Simnet (Canada), the Ministry of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs of Quebec, Logistics UK, Red Bull Arena Leipzig (Germany), Split Airport (Croatia), the Louvre Museum (France), SANOFI (France), Telefonica Tech (Spain), Cimento Nacional (Brazil), Hoya Group (Singapore), and Axis Bank (India)
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