Positive Group enters Egyptian market with local partner
MOSCOW. Dec 6 (Interfax) - PJSC Positive Group, the parent company of Russian cybersecurity group Positive Technologies , has signed a distribution agreement with Mideast Communication Systems (MCS), a Cairo-based provider of cybersecurity solutions in Egypt and other countries in the Middle East and Africa, the Russian company reported.
The partnership will focus on sharing cybersecurity expertise and jointly promoting products and services in the region "for result-driven cybersecurity," Positive Group said.
"MCS has been in cybersecurity for 18 years, and today our strategic plan is centered on implementing cutting-edge solutions, supporting Egypt's digital transformation, and expanding in the region," the Egyptian company's CEO, Tarek Shabaka was quoted as saying in the press release.
"I'm confident that our partnership with Positive Technologies, a leading developer of advanced cybersecurity solutions and services, will help us significantly contribute to building a high level of cyber resilience among companies and organizations in the region," Shabaka said.
Positive Technologies' MENA regional director, Ilya Leonov said the company's "collaboration with MCS will stretch beyond Egypt and include other countries in Middle East and Africa."
"Priority will be given to industrial safety, DevSecOps, red team services, and ATM security assessment," Leonov said.
Positive Group did not disclose any specific plans, forecasts or expectations for its work in Egypt and other countries in the region. However, the company noted that the number of cyberattacks in the Middle East tripled year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024. In Africa, over 70% of all cyberattacks in the last year targeted the public, finance, industry and telecom sectors, and Egypt accounts for 13% of attacks on African countries, which is second only to South Africa with 22%, the company said.
Positive Technologies deputy CEO Maxim Filippov said at a meeting with investors in May that revenue from sales on foreign markets is expected to total 500 million rubles in 2024, but could reach as much as 1 billion rubles. "500 million rubles is what we can earn as planned, 1 billion rubles is a feat, as we say at the company, the maximum possible realistic figure," he said.
However, the company has faced a lack or shortage of local expertise, a lack of partners who could carry out high quality design and implementation, on target markets, foremost Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, Filippov said.
Positive Technologies said earlier that it planned to increase the share of foreign sales to 10% of revenue in the medium term. However, in the fall of 2023 company COO Andrei Kuzin said foreign sales could amount to several percent of total sales in 2024.
"Now five or six company products are at a high degree of readiness for sales on foreign markets. Next year their sales could already reach a few percent of total sales," Kuzin said.
Positive Group closed 2023 with IFRS revenue up 61% to 22.2 billion rubles. Deliveries (transfer of rights to use licensed products to clients or signed contracts for cybersecurity services) grew by 76% to 25.5 billion rubles in 2023. The company's net income before capitalization of expenses jumped 76% to 8.7 billion rubles.
Positive Group's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange. The company's free float was 10.89% of common shares (66 million) when it listed in December 2021. The shares were given to current and former group employees, as well as its partners by existing shareholders.
Principal shareholders now own 62.85% of shares, minority shareholders hold 22.7% and senior executives own 14.38%.