Global Internet-security group Symantec's EMEA region, into which the South African arm reports, recorded a 45% revenue growth in the third quarter ending 2 January.
Overall, the group achieved revenue of $494 million for the quarter, 31% up on the same quarter of the previous year, with international revenues accounting for 54% of the total.
The performance was better than the group predicted at the released second-quarter results last year. At the time, Symantec expected third-quarter revenue of between $440 million and $460 million.
Canada experienced the biggest growth (a 47% improvement), followed by Europe, Middle East and Africa (45%), Japan (36%), Asia Pacific (24%), the US (22%) and Latin America (22%).
Net income per share increased from $0.22 to $0.32.
"We closed a record number of large enterprise deals during the quarter and the consumer segment turned in a phenomenal performance," says chairman and CEO John Thompson.
The group's balance sheet reflects total current assets of $2.66 billion (2003: $1.99 billion), of which $2.27 billion ($1.71 billion) is in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. This compares with total current liabilities of $1.22 billion ($894.62 million).
Revenue for the fourth quarter to 2 April is expected to be in the range of $500 million to $520 million, with earnings per share of $0.30 if revenue is at the midpoint of the expected range.
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