INTERVIEW: Kaspersky to open office in Canada in 2019, not in US

MOSCOW, Nov 27 (PRIME) -- Russian antivirus software maker Kaspersky Lab has suspended plans of opening offices in Chicago and Los Angeles and postponed opening a branch in Toronto till 2019, Chief Business Officer Alexander Moiseyev told PRIME in an interview on Tuesday.

“We’ll open an office in Toronto next year. The necessity to open an office in Chicago and Los Angeles has disappeared due to the general difficulties of work in the region. Our corporate sales are stagnating. But business-to-customer sales in the online segment are rising, but the segment is centralized and its development requires no new offices,” Moiseyev said.

The company planned to open three new offices in 2018 in the North-American region: in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Toronto.

Sales in focus

Kaspersky Lab intends to raise sales in Europe up to 10% in 2018 on the year. “Europe is our core market. We did have a slight decrease there last year. This year we’re growing. The expected growth rate stands at 10% compared to the previous year, which is in line with our plans. Our business in Germany feels very good,” Moiseyev said.

There is “a serious rise in sales to major corporate clients, a so-called Europe’s enterprise … I’d single out the financial sector. In Europe, 139 banks are our clients,” Moiseyev said.

In 2017, Kaspersky Lab’s revenue increased 8% to U.S. $698 million, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The volume of sales in North America fell 8% and in Europe by 2%, but sales grew in the other markets: by 18% in Latin America; by 34% in Russia and the CIS; by 31% in the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa; by 11% in the Asia-Pacific region; and by 4% in Japan.

Moiseyev said the company expects its 2018 IFRS revenue to be no lower than in 2017 or even slightly higher. “Our aim is to repeat the results of last year or raise revenue a bit. We don’t expect a decrease,” he said.

Investments in marketing and sales remained flat. “We managed to redistribute our expenses quickly to compensate a decrease in sales in some regions, mainly in North America,” he said.

Still no IPO

Kaspersky Lab does not have plans to hold an initial public offering (IPO). “We have no IPO plans. We have no need in going public. The company does not need to raise money, our business grows and brings profit,” the executive said.

“We see many companies trying to quit bourses and regain privacy. In order to hold an IPO, one should understand why, what the financial target is. Our main target now is to develop the new technologies that we have the best we can.”

New products

Kaspersky Lab will develop and invest into several new technologies, including critical infrastructure and transport security, like the car industry, aviation, maritime and inland vessels.

“Like cars, ships are equipped with computerized control systems. A modern ship can be steered by one person, and vessels have become much less populated. Creation of automated ships is also possible. But work with maritime and inland transport is still in the research phase,” Moiseyev said.

“Our strategic goal is to achieve that devices in the ecosystem of the Internet of Things are immune to cyberattacks. So that attacks of malware on them are impossible.”

End