Qoria (ASX:QOR) used its FY2026 half-year results webinar to reiterate strong growth and improving profitability, while also outlining product and platform initiatives and providing an update on its agreed merger with consumer security company Aura.
Half-year growth, profitability, and reiterated guidance
Chief executive Tim said the company delivered growth “comfortably above 25%” for the half, with revenue up 25% versus the prior corresponding period. He said fixed cost discipline has remained tight over the past couple of years, citing a 4% compound annual growth rate in fixed costs.
Tim also reiterated guidance the company has referenced previously, including:
- ARR growth “north of 20%”
- Free cash flow positive for the year
- Adjusted EBITDA margins of around 20% or better
Chief financial officer Ben echoed the key points, noting that ARR growth was translating into revenue “notwithstanding a little bit of FX headwinds” in the latter part of the half. Ben said the company remained comfortable with guidance on a constant-currency basis, while also acknowledging sensitivity to foreign exchange movements.
Qustodio momentum and pricing actions
Tim repeatedly highlighted the performance of Qustodio, Qoria’s consumer parental controls product, saying it has strengthened meaningfully over the past couple of years. He described Qustodio as profitable and “on fire,” and later said that in the last half overall ARR grew north of 25%, with Qustodio growing 34%.
Management discussed marketing investment in Qustodio, with Tim saying the business was granted an additional AUD 4 million marketing budget this year. He characterized the unit economics as highly favorable, saying acquisition costs are effectively covered by average order value, describing it as a “cash-free growth engine,” while noting that accounting treatment affects EBITDA even if it is not burning cash.
Tim also said the company was in the middle of a price optimization process that was “showing good signs,” and he expected growth contribution in the half from both pricing and subscriber growth.
K-12 footprint, pipeline, and “outcomes” messaging
Tim framed Qoria’s strategy around being “the most compatible provider of safety technology globally,” and provided scale metrics including 30 million children, 9 million parents, and 32,000 schools on its platform. He also said the company had surpassed 20% of U.S. students on its platform, describing that growth as organic since entering the market in 2018.
On sales momentum, Tim said the company’s weighted pipeline at December was “extraordinary,” and “materially higher” as it approached the key selling period in the U.S. He added that the U.S. was its biggest market and was growing “nearly 30%.”
In the Q&A, K-12 lead Crispin said the U.K. pipeline was up about 15% to 20% year-on-year and that the region was at 116% of target year to date. He said he was seeing a positive trend toward a combined monitoring and filtering proposition in the U.K., while customers awaited a “Linewize Connect” proposition that would bring a U.S.-leading approach into the U.K., with an initial release expected in the next couple of months.
Tim also emphasized the company’s shift toward selling “outcomes” rather than risk management. He cited an analysis of 1.2 million U.S. students and said that within six months of launching programs that extend controls to parents, there was a “halving” of incidents tied to terrorist/extremist content and bullying in those school communities. He also described a correlation between the number of Qoria products adopted by a school and lower toxicity incidents, saying schools with five Qoria products saw toxicity drop by nearly two-thirds compared with lower-product adoption.
Product development, AI-driven filtering, and platform unification
Management highlighted AI-related investments in content filtering, including real-time filtering that can highlight, hide, or blur inappropriate images and videos and analyze content within a page, including “hidden keywords.” Tim said this capability helps prevent students from using VPNs and proxies to bypass school filtering systems.
He also discussed progress toward unifying the company’s technology stack. Tim said the “Qoria Unified Platform” was currently rolling out in the U.K., would begin to be used “in anger” in the second half, and was expected to be available to all customers by the end of the year, with rollout to the U.S. beyond that. He said the unified interface and cloud applications should simplify the code base, enable faster feature delivery, and create an “efficiency dividend” over time.
In response to a question about a previously mentioned AUD 4 million cost reduction, management said cost savings were being pursued, with about two-thirds of that reduction coming from efficiencies in engineering, including not replacing normal employee churn. Tim added that larger AI-driven engineering savings could be possible in the future, but said the current priority was delivering the unification work.
Aura merger update: timeline, terms, and disclosures
Tim provided an update on the agreed merger with Aura, describing Aura as a consumer security player and framing the combination as an opportunity to create “lifetime digital protection.” He said the transaction was on track and expected to complete in the middle of June, subject to shareholder approval at a scheme meeting expected in June, along with regulatory and court approvals and other customary conditions.
He said Aura would acquire 100% of Qoria shares, and that Qoria shareholders would own about 35% pre-money and just under 34% post-placement of the combined group. Tim also said the deal included binding commitments for a AUD 75 million placement at an equivalent of AUD 0.72 for Qoria shares, and he said it valued the combined business at about AUD 3 billion based on the negotiated terms and growth and profitability expectations discussed on the call.
On disclosure, Tim said Aura was going through an IPO compliance process and that a prospectus was expected in April, limiting what could be said before then. He said Qoria was working with advisers and regulators on what could be disclosed ahead of the prospectus and was aiming to run events in March if permitted, with a larger company day planned after the prospectus release.
Asked about lock-ups, Tim said Qoria requested a voluntary escrow from two major Aura investors—Hari Ravichandran and WndrCo—who together own about 40% of Aura, and that the voluntary escrow would run through to the end of February next year. He also said other investors were making commitments to “orderly sale provisions.”
In response to a question on AI and Aura’s competitive positioning, Tim said Aura’s anomaly detection platform identifies unusual activity (such as on bank accounts, credit files, or a child’s activity at unusual hours) and pairs that with “agentic” responses—taking actions on a customer’s behalf, such as removing data from brokers or contacting institutions to resolve issues.
Finally, management addressed questions on accounting and shareholder support. Ben said about 45% of engineering spend is capitalized but that capitalized salaries are included in free cash flow, so changes in capitalization would not affect free cash flow. Tim said the company had engaged with its largest shareholders and that they were indicating positivity toward the deal, though he said it was not yet public.
About Qoria (ASX:QOR)
Qoria Limited markets, distributes, and sells cyber safety products and services. It offers Family Zone platform that delivers cyber safety settings, advice, and support to parents and schools across various networks and devices to keep children safe at home and school, as well as permits telecommunication service providers and device manufacturers to embed cyber safety practices into their offerings. The company also provides classroom management solutions. It offers hot spotting, VPN, and mobile solutions for families and schools, IT companies, educators, residential managers, and pastoral care organizations.
