F-Secure Corporation | Stock exchange release | 29 April 2026 at 8:00 EEST
F-Secure Interim Report 1 January-31 March 2026: Tier 1 business growth starting to materialize
This is a summary of F-Secure Corporation's January-March 2026 Interim Report. The full report is a PDF file attached to this stock exchange release and available on the company website at www.investors.f-secure.com.
Highlights of January-March 2026
- Currency neutral revenue growth was 2.1%. Reported revenue decreased by -2.1% to EUR 36.3 million (EUR 37.1 million).
- Currency neutral revenue from Partner channel increased by 4.6%. Reported revenue decreased by -0.6% to EUR 29.9 million (EUR 30.1 million).
- Currency neutral revenue from Direct channel decreased by -8.3%. Reported revenue decreased by -8.4% to EUR 6.4 million (EUR 7.0 million).
- Adjusted EBITA was EUR 11.5 million (EUR 13.1 million), 31.8% of revenue (35.4%).
- Items affecting comparability (IAC) were EUR -1.7 million (EUR 0.0) related to organizational restructuring in sales and services teams.
- Earnings per share (EPS) decreased to EUR 0.02 (EUR 0.03).
- Cash flow from operating activities before financial items and taxes was EUR 9.7 million (EUR 12.0 million).
- Net debt declined to EUR 142.3 million (EUR 157.1 million), and the leverage ratio was 2.8x (2.8x 31 Dec 2025).
- On 10 March 2026, F-Secure issued a positive profit warning and raised its full year 2026 revenue outlook. Profitability outlook remained unchanged.
Figures in brackets refer to the corresponding period in the previous year, unless otherwise stated. Percentages and figures presented herein may include rounding differences and therefore may not add up precisely to the totals presented. Figures in this interim report are unaudited.
Outlook for 2026 (updated 10 March, 2026)
Growth: The group's currency neutral revenue growth is expected to be 7-12% in 2026.
Profitability: The group's adjusted EBITA is expected to be EUR 44-50 million in 2026 (2025: EUR 50.3 million).
Background for the outlook:
- F-Secure expects the core consumer cybersecurity market to grow mid-single digit CAGR mid- to long-term1. F-Secure sees the potential to grow faster than the market, focusing on partner channel and its offering around Embedded security and Scam Protection. The growth may be moderated by uncertainties around consumer sentiment in certain markets and general economic volatility.
- Partner business and especially Embedded Security solutions are expected to drive F-Secure growth during 2026. Growth is expected to accelerate throughout the year as the most significant new Tier 1 services gradually start to generate revenue and support profitability.
- Direct business revenue development is expected to be negative due to continued strategy of refraining from paid customer acquisition. Focus is on improving retention rate and ARPU.
- Gross margin is expected to be slightly lower than in 2025 (84.7%) due to growth of strategic partners with Embedded Security solutions, as these typically have a lower gross margin level than F-Secure Total business.
- F-Secure continues to develop its service, operations and production capabilities further to meet Tier 1 partner requirements. These efforts are reflected in the higher cost base. As business scales up we expect to leverage continued service level investments across a wider partner base, leading to positive Adjusted EBITA % development along with business growth.
- Capex level is expected to remain on a similar or slightly higher level as in 2025 related to both product development as well as technology infrastructure improvements.
1Industry analyst views such as Gartner and IDC, and F-Secure management estimates.
Financial targets
F-Secure's medium-term financial targets and dividend policy for the company reflect the company's growth ambitions and strategic direction.
- Growth: High single digit growth (CAGR) with additional significant upside from major Tier 1 deals
- Profitability: Adjusted EBITA margin approaching 40% as revenue reaches EUR 200 million
- Dividend Yield: Around or above 50% of net profit, which can be adjusted as long as leverage is higher than the targeted level
- Leverage: Net debt / adjusted EBITDA ratio below 2.5x, excluding temporary impact from acquisitions
F-Secure Corporation follows the Rule of 40 metric as internal performance measurement and guiding principle, according to which the combined revenue growth rate and profitability margin should be equal to or greater than 40%.
Financial performance
| EUR million | 1-3/2026 | 1-3/2025 | Change % | 1-12/2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 36.3 | 37.1 | -2.1% | 145.7 |
| Gross Margin | 30.3 | 31.7 | -4.3% | 123.4 |
| % of revenue | 83.4% | 85.4% | 84.7% | |
| Operating expenses1 | -18.5 | -18.3 | 0.9% | -72.3 |
| Sales & Marketing | -7.5 | -8.1 | -7.7% | -32.2 |
| Research & Development | -7.2 | -6.5 | 10.8% | -24.7 |
| Administration | -3.8 | -3.7 | 2.2% | -15.4 |
| Adjusted EBITA1 | 11.5 | 13.1 | -12.1% | 50.3 |
| % of revenue | 31.8% | 35.4% | 34.5% | |
| Items affecting comparability (IAC)2 | -1.7 | 0.0 | 0.1 | |
| EBIT | 5.8 | 9.4 | -38.5% | 35.5 |
| % of revenue | 15.9% | 25.3% | 24.4% | |
| Earnings per share (EUR)3 | 0.02 | 0.03 | -42.8% | 0.13 |
| Earnings per share, adjusted for PPA amortization (EUR)3 | 0.03 | 0.04 | -34.2% | 0.16 |
| Shareholder's equity per share, EUR | 0.31 | 0.29 | 0.32 | |
| Operating cash flow | 7.9 | 9.7 | -18.4% | 43.6 |
| Cash conversion % | 50.4% | 75.5% | 79.1% | |
| Deferred revenue | 26.7 | 27.2 | -2.1% | 27.0 |
| Net debt (+) / Net cash (-) | 142.3 | 157.1 | -9.4% | 145.6 |
| Net debt/Adjusted EBITDA | 2.8 | 2.9 | 2.8 | |
| Gearing, % | 266.0% | 317.9% | 260.0% | |
| Equity ratio % | 19.9% | 19.1% | 21.5% | |
| Personnel at the end of the period | 580 | 506 | 14.6% | 549 |
1Excluding Items Affecting Comparability (IAC) and depreciation and amortization.
2A reconciliation and breakdown of items affecting comparability is presented at the end of this report.
3Based on the average number of shares for the reporting period.
Timo Laaksonen, President and CEO
The first quarter of 2026 was marked by strategic advancements and good momentum within our partner ecosystem, laying a solid foundation for accelerated growth moving forward. In line with our growth outlook, we are confident that the strategic partnerships we have secured will begin to drive our revenue growth towards the year-end.
A milestone was the signing of a partnership agreement with?Verizon, one of the world's leading Communication Service Providers (CSP). Under this strategic collaboration, F-Secure will deliver Embedded Security capabilities, empowering Verizon to significantly enhance its widely adopted Digital Secure service with a comprehensive suite of security offerings for its new and existing customers. This agreement deepens a strategic relationship that began in early 2025 and represents another step in F-Secure's mission to serve the world's leading CSPs with innovative, scalable cybersecurity services. The accelerating momentum with our large Tier 1 partners, exemplified by this agreement, is a testament to the value and quality of our solutions. In light of this partnership, we raised our revenue outlook for 2026. Profitability outlook remains unchanged. However, the current level does not reflect the full earnings potential of the business, so the focus going forward is on profitability improvement.
Other commercial highlights of the quarter in the partner business include the commercial launch of Financial Monitoring service announced as a new agreement in December and several new Total extension agreements were signed and launched with existing partners, mostly scam protection related. TP-Link launched Sense to a segment of their customers in the US and deployed Sense for Hong Kong Broadband Network. Direct Business performance was once again solid driven by healthy retention and positive ARPU development.
Our commitment to user experience and robust protection was recognized as?F-Secure Total received the AV-TEST Best Usability Award 2025 for Consumer Users.?This award acknowledges our product's exceptional ability to deliver strong security without disruptive false alarms, demonstrating outstanding reliability in distinguishing between legitimate software and malicious threats.
Innovation remains at the core of F-Secure, and our work to develop the company's?AI capabilities?continued throughout the quarter. While its full impact is not yet reflected in our financial figures, our AI competence is already at a high level across all units of the company. We are making particularly rapid progress in applying agentic AI, and we believe its role will be instrumental in the future of consumer cyber security.
In February, we participated in?Mobile World Congress (MWC)?in Barcelona, engaging in a record number of meetings with key industry executives representing some of the world's leading CSPs and technology providers.
We carried out organizational changes in our global sales and services teams during the first quarter. The result is a flatter leadership structure with wider managerial span of control. Furthermore, we consolidated our global partner success operations under a new leader to strengthen our position as the business partner of choice.
I extend my sincere thanks to our dedicated fellows for their commitment, and to our partners for their trust. We look forward to building on this momentum throughout the rest of the year.
Significant events during the review period
On 13 January 2026, F-Secure announced the appointment of a new Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). Jyrki Tulokas was appointed CSO and a member of the Leadership Team of F-Secure Corporation, effective 2 February 2026.
On 4 February 2026, F-Secure Board's Personnel and Nomination Committee gave proposals to the Annual General Meeting 2026 for the composition and remuneration of the Board of Directors.
On 20 November 2025, F-Secure announced that it was negotiating a significant partnership agreement. On 10 March, 2026, Verizon, one of the world's leading Communication Service Providers announced on its website, that the company is changing the technology provider of its Digital Secure service and that the new provider will be F-Secure. The binding agreement was signed on 8 April 2026. Under the partnership, F-Secure will provide Embedded Security capabilities that enable Verizon to update and enhance its widely adopted Digital Secure service with a variety of security services for its existing and new customers. The signed agreement contains a minimum guaranteed revenue, starting from the service launch to end customers. The service was launched in April 2026. F-Secure's annual revenue impact of the agreement will exceed USD 15 million (approximately EUR 13 million with current FX rate) for the first full year of service. Revenue growth beyond the guaranteed level will be determined by the demand for the service. The agreement also has an immediate positive impact on the company's profitability.
On 10 March 2026 F-Secure issued a positive profit warning and raised its full year 2026 revenue outlook. Profitability outlook remained unchanged.
Financial reporting in 2026
F-Secure Corporation's planned release schedule for financial reports in 2026 is as follows:
- Half-year Financial Report for January-June 2026 on Friday 17 July 2026
- Interim Report for January-September 2026 on Wednesday 28 October 2026
The reports will be available on the company's website https://investors.f-secure.com/en/ immediately after publication. All reports are available in Finnish and English.
Webcast
Everyone interested in F-Secure is welcome to follow the live webcast on the result publication day at 12:30 Helsinki time (EEST). In the webcast, F-Secure's President and CEO Timo Laaksonen and CFO Sari Somerkallio will present the results and after the presentation there will be time for questions. The event can be followed at https://fsecure.events.inderes.com/q1-2026.
Analysts following F-Secure are invited to the news conference at the company headquarters, Tammasaarenkatu 7, Helsinki, Finland.
A recording of the event will be available after the event on the company's website.
For further information, please contact:
Sari Somerkallio, Chief Financial Officer, tel. +358 40 3569251
investor.relations@f-secure.com
F-Secure in brief
F-Secure is Finland headquartered and globally operating consumer cyber security company. F-Secure offers award-winning security and privacy products and services that make every digital moment more secure, for everyone. F-Secure operates in over 100 countries, has ~200 Service Provider partners and is the global leader providing security through Communication Service Providers. F-Secure Corporation is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd.
Read more: www.f-secure.com.
