Covid-era darling Tesserent says FY23 revenues up 35% YoY, but past peaks a fading memory

Former Covid-era winner Tesserent (ASX:TNT) today noted its FY23 turnover is so far up 35% YoY, at $70m of new works in the pipeline - but the company is far from replicating its 2020-2021 bull run.

Climbing 400% from 4c in 2020, based on its heavy cybersecurity product footprint, Tesserent landed on the radars of smallcap tech investors everywhere. 

As covid created a world where just about everybody worked from home, cybercriminal activity shot up; particularly scams and fraud. 

This, in turn, created demand for cybersecurity packages at all levels, and Tesserent was a clear winner. 

Cyberattacks as revenue driver 

Of the $70m worth of work clocked so far in FY23, $54m comes from the company’s Enterprise & Commercial Business Unit.

Tesserent notes that the high-profile Medibank and Optus data breaches have produced strong revenues for the company. 

There are signs TNT is branching out beyond cybersecurity; noting that the commercial business unit’s performance reflects continuing “integration and cost-selling initiatives that are being expanded and fast tracked.” 

Tesserent also on Tuesday highlighted a $3m contract from the State Library of QLD over a 5 year period to provide digital archiving services (think: old government documents, maps, books, photographs, all being scanned and kept online.) 

Past peaks not on the radar 

Regardless, Tesserent is unlikely to replicate its 2020-2021 performance.

The company’s good fortunes continued through a low interest rate environment in 2012, hitting an all-time-high in January of 43c. 

However, the company ended the FY22  period with an $8m loss, and declined over the following year from 30c, to 10c today. 

A look at Tesserent's five year charts contextualises the company's performance during the first two years of the pandemic