The European Union imposed sanctions against Positive Technologies

The 11th package of sanctions of the European Union, published on June 23, 2023, includes the parent company of the Russian developer of solutions in the field of information security (IS) Positive Technologies PJSC “Positive Group”, follows from the information in the official EU journal. In addition, restrictions have also been imposed on more than 100 individuals and legal entities.

The company’s official statement says that the EU’s decision to impose sanctions against Positive Technologies is based on the fact that the company has a license from the FSB of Russia and does not affect the company’s business in any way. “Obtaining a license from the FSB is a prerequisite for the work of all leading players in the cybersecurity market,” said a representative of the developer.

The fact that the company has an FSB license is a “far-fetched” reason, says Valery Andreev, Deputy General Director for Science and Development of IVC. The license only indicates that the company’s developments allow processing information constituting a state secret and carrying out document management with government agencies (including confidential ones marked “for official use”), the expert clarifies.

In addition, such a license is also needed for those companies that develop crypto-signature and firewall technologies, said Luka Safonov, technical director of Synclit JSC. Positive Technologies is looking for various “cunning” vulnerabilities on the Internet, so its activities may be undesirable on the territory of some unfriendly states, Andreev argues.

According to a company spokesperson, Positive Technologies’ plans for “doubling annual business growth or creating disruptive cybersecurity technologies” remain unchanged. “All sanctions risks were won back by us several years ago, when we rebuilt our business and developed a new strategy that allowed us to enter the stock exchange and increase business volumes every year,” he said.

Since April 2021, Positive Technologies has been under US sanctions. Then the US Department of Justice accused the company of supporting government agencies, including the FSB, as well as holding events at which law enforcement agencies were engaged in recruiting. This did not affect the company’s IPO plans: in December 2021, the company entered the Moscow Exchange with a valuation of $580 million. However, in early 2022, Positive Technologies was forced to close its offices in the Czech Republic and the UK. Now the developer, in addition to Russian ones, has an office in Kazakhstan.

The EU sanctions do not affect the activities of the company, as well as its partners and clients, do not affect its employees, top management and shareholders, including individuals, a Positive Technologies representative assured. He clarified that today the company’s international interests are not connected with the EU countries and are primarily focused on regions that are ready to work with organizations from Russia, in particular, in the markets of Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia, as well as India. , South Africa, China, etc.

According to Safonov, the new sanctions restrictions will not really have a noticeable impact on the company’s business. After the US sanctions, Positive Technologies only strengthened its position in Russia, he believes.

Inclusion in the EU sanctions list should not have any impact on the company’s operations, analysts of the My Investments telegram channel write. According to them, the main business of Positive Technologies is concentrated in Russia (99% of revenue in 2022), and plans for international expansion are primarily aimed at entering the markets of the Persian Gulf, Southeast Asia and Latin America. Analysts remain positive about the company and believe that Positive Technologies still has strong growth prospects over the next few years.

Investors hardly noticed the inclusion of Positive Technologies in the EU sanctions list. The fall in the value of shares on the Moscow Exchange during the day on June 23 did not exceed 1.5%. By 18:00 Moscow time, the price of the paper: during the day it fell only by 0.73%, to 1985 rubles. Since the beginning of the year, shares of Positive Technologies have risen by 57%.