Astra Group is a Russian developer of system software. Its main product is an operating system used in government institutions and in companies with heightened requirements for information security. The shares trade on the Moscow Exchange under the ticker ASTR.
The company sells licences for its operating system and related products — tools for virtualisation, backup and infrastructure management. The economics here are the same as in any software business: development is expensive once, while each additional copy sold costs next to nothing.
What sets the demand apart is that it is largely regulatory. Government institutions and companies with critical infrastructure are obliged to switch to domestic software, and this is not a decision about convenience but a requirement. Such demand is predictable, but it is also limited to the circle of those who are obliged.
Growth comes from breadth — from selling a single client additional products of the ecosystem instead of the operating system alone.
The core product, used wherever there are requirements for information security.
Virtualisation, backup, infrastructure management, development tools.
Support for deployments and training of the customer's specialists.
Strengths and weaknesses describe the business itself. Opportunities and threats describe what may happen around it.
The company develops system software: an operating system and tools for virtualisation, backup and infrastructure management. Its products are used primarily where there are requirements for information security.
Government institutions and organisations with critical infrastructure are obliged to use software that is included in the register of domestic software and has passed certification. This is a security requirement, not a matter of preference.
Because the main cost — development — is incurred once, while producing one more copy costs almost nothing. That is why, as sales grow, profit grows faster than revenue.