PRGS

Progress Software Corporation

HALAL

Score: 82/100

stock

Is PRGS Halal?

Provider of application-development, infrastructure, and data-connectivity software used by enterprises and developers — a permissible software business, with acquisition-related leverage as the primary financial-screen consideration.

What You Should Know

Progress Software Corporation is a publicly-traded enterprise-software company whose portfolio spans application-development and low-code platforms, digital-experience and content management, network and infrastructure monitoring, secure file transfer, and data connectivity and integration products used by businesses and developers. Developing and licensing enterprise and developer software is a general-purpose technology activity that is unambiguously permissible at the activity level under standard Sharia methodology. The financial screen is the primary consideration: Progress is an acquisitive company that uses term debt and a revolving credit facility to fund acquisitions, so the debt-to-market-cap ratio should be verified against the 33% Sharia threshold at the time of investment, though the company is consistently profitable with strong recurring cash flow. Subject to that verification, most major Sharia advisory boards classify Progress as permissible with purification of small interest-income components.

⚠️ Concerns

•Debt-to-market-cap ratio should be verified against the 33% Sharia threshold at the time of investment — Progress carries interest-bearing term debt and a revolver used to fund acquisitions; this is the primary Sharia-screening consideration and warrants particular attention
•Term loans and revolving credit are interest-bearing instruments — investors who object to any conventional-debt issuance should weigh this even where the debt ratio passes the 33% screen
•Progress is a frequent acquirer of software businesses — acquisition activity can raise leverage and goodwill, so the financial screen should be re-verified following material transactions
•Interest income from cash balances and the receivables-to-assets ratio should be confirmed against the preferred board's thresholds at the time of investment