Astra Linux developer plans an IPO on the Moscow Exchange in October

Astra Group, the developer of the domestic Astra Linux operating system, announced a listing on the Moscow Exchange. The company plans to conduct an IPO by the end of October and put up to 5% of the shares owned by current owners into free circulation. This is stated in the official statement of the company.

Vedomosti, with reference to Sivtsev, reported on the group’s plans for an IPO back in July 2022. The possible timing and amount that the company plans to raise were not disclosed then.

The Astra group of companies includes several IT brands. In addition to the Astra Linux OS, this is the virtual desktop manager Termidesk (developed by Uveon – cloud technologies“), a set of backup tools Rubackup from Rubecap LLC, a corporate mail system Rupost from Rupost LLC, etc.

In 2022, the company established the legal entity Astra Consulting, and in October announced the acquisition of 75% of the developer of DBMS solutions Tantor Laboratory LLC (the transaction amount was not disclosed). These products are used primarily in government organizations, as well as in industry and critical information infrastructure facilities.

According to information from the group’s reporting, General Director Ilya Sivtsev owns 20%, the remaining 80% belongs to Denis Frolov. The partners also own the lighting equipment manufacturer Varton Group of Companies, which in June 2021 acquired a controlling stake in Baikal Electronics JSC.

In July 2023, the company disclosed its financial statements under IFRS for the first time, Vedomosti reported. In 2022, Astra Group increased its revenue by 2.5 times: it amounted to 5.4 billion rubles. against 2.16 billion rubles. a year earlier, Net profit increased 2.8 times to RUB 3 billion, and EBITDA increased 2.7 times to RUB 2.9 billion.

Currently, the only Russian technology companies listed on the stock exchange are the Internet holdings Yandex and VK and the kicksharing service Whoosh, which went public at the end of 2022, and the developers are Softline and Positive Technologies.

At the time of disclosure of financial statements under IFRS, experts estimated the potential valuation of the company in the event of going public at 30-60 billion rubles. If compared with Positive Technologies, Astra’s multiplier could be x8, noted Finam Group analyst Leonid Delitsyn. Thus, according to him, the company’s valuation could be 40-45 billion. The fair value of the company ranges from 70 billion to 90.7 billion rubles, the report says Alfa Bank.

Thus, the total value of 5% of shares that the company can place on the stock exchange will be from 1.5 billion to 4.5 billion rubles.

The prospects for the Russian OS are unique in the context of tightening sanctions and the transition of the entire public sector to a local OS, and the quasi-public sector will follow, says Alexander Dorozhkin, head of the equity management department of Ingosstrakh-Investments Management Company.

According to Strategy Partners, the volume of the Russian IT market will grow from 3 trillion rubles. in 2023 up to 7 trillion rubles. by 2030. In 2022, the OS market amounted to 18.9 billion rubles, of which Russian vendors accounted for 7.2 billion rubles: of this amount, about 75% of sales came from the Astra group, 12% from “ Basalt SPO” and 9% – “Red Soft”. By 2030, according to Strategy Partners forecasts, the operating systems market will grow 4 times to 72 billion rubles, of which 63.8 billion rubles will account for products of Russian developers.

But if government policy in the IT sector changes, budget cuts for the industry, labor shortages and rising costs, the market growth rate may slow down, says Lyudmila Bogatyreva, head of the digital solutions department at the Polylog agency. For now, under sanctions pressure, the customer base will grow, but when the situation first stabilizes, users will choose the usual Windows, the expert concluded.