Symantec reports 34% revenue growth in fiscal Q2

Symantec, the world leader in Internet security, today reported results for the fiscal second quarter 2003, ended 27 September 2002. Symantec posted revenue for the quarter of $325 million, a 34% increase compared to $242 million for the same quarter last year. Performance was driven by continued strength in the company's collection of "must-have" security solutions for individuals and enterprises around the globe.

"In the face of today's difficult economy and the challenge of successfully integrating four acquisitions, we continue to demonstrate our commitment to deliver great value for customers and strong financial results for our investors," said John W Thompson, Symantec chairman and CEO. "Our business, both consumer and enterprise, is firing on all cylinders across every region."

For the quarter, Symantec's worldwide enterprise security business grew 30% compared to the same quarter last year and represented 44% of total revenue. Performance in the enterprise security business was supported by 61% growth in firewall/VPN sales and 36% growth in anti-virus sales compared to the same quarter last year. Symantec's security services revenue grew 102% compared to the same quarter last year, supported by 127% growth in managed security services.

Symantec's consumer business grew 68% and represented 38% of total revenue, supported by continued strength in consumer anti-virus revenue, which grew 76% compared to the same quarter last year. Symantec's enterprise administration business represented 16% of total revenue and declined 2%.

International revenues grew 45% over the same quarter last year and represented 47% of total revenue in the second quarter. Symantec posted growth in every region. Sales in Europe, Middle East and Africa led the increase with 55% year-over-year growth followed by 51% growth in Japan, 35% growth in Canada, 26% growth in the US and 24% growth in Asia Pacific.

* Symantec generated 116 contracts worldwide worth more than $100 000, including 28 worth more than $300 000 and five worth more than $1 million, during the quarter. Symantec signed new or extended agreements with customers including Siemens, Stanford University, Advance Medical Devices, Los Alamos National Laboratories and NCR Corporation, a leading worldwide global technology company.

* The company's enterprise success is punctuated by the continued expansion of its worldwide customer base, featuring contracts with 26 Global 500 and 15 Fortune 100 companies including one of the world's largest petroleum companies, two of the world's largest telecommunications companies, four of the world's largest banks, two of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies and two of the world's largest auto manufacturers.

* Symantec's Managed Security Services business continues to expand, with 55 new deals during the quarter. We now have more than 600 MSS customers including ChoicePoint, the leading provider of identification and credential verification services; Parsons Brinkerhoff, a world-leading transportation engineering firm; People's Bank, the largest state-chartered bank in Connecticut; and the Screen Actors Guild Pension and Health Plan.

* The partnership with Northrop Grumman Corp's IT sector resulted in a contract with the US Department of Defence (DOD) for an agency-wide licence to use Symantec's anti-virus solutions across the agency's desktops, servers and gateways. The total value of the contract including a one-year base and four one-year option periods is $16.5 million.

* On 1 October, Symantec unveiled its strategy to provide enterprises with a comprehensive, proactive approach to create and manage effective security environments. A unifying structure to the Symantec enterprise security strategy is the Symantec Enterprise Security Architecture, an open, standards-based framework that enables Symantec and third-party vendor solutions to work together to provide secure, manageable and scalable enterprise security. The company announced the Symantec Security Management System, a comprehensive set of management applications that improves the effectiveness of the information security environment by delivering proactive control of the security infrastructure and correlated information for better decision-making.

* In addition, Symantec unveiled the first integrated security solution for network clients and remote users, Symantec Client Security, with anti-virus, personal firewall and intrusion detection technologies to effectively protect desktops against today's blended threats. Integrated central management of these multiple technologies offers IT administrators the powerful combination of lowering the total cost of ownership and increasing the security of the network client - frequently, the most costly and least secure IT asset.

* Symantec also unveiled its comprehensive intrusion detection and prevention product line showcasing the planned integration of recently acquired Recourse Technologies' multi-gigabit ManHunt and highly scalable Symantec Host Intrusion Detection 4.0.

* Symantec launched the 2003 line of consumer security solutions including Norton Internet Security, Norton AntiVirus, Norton Personal Firewall and Norton SystemWorks. The new solutions include enhanced privacy control features to address spam and basic intrusion detection to automatically block malicious attacks. New features also include the scanning of instant messages, heuristic-based proactive worm blocking and Web optimisation tools.