News

posted on 01 May 2008 09:16

Symantec's net profit for its Q4 fy08 results showed a 200 percent rise on the year-ago quarter, beating estimates, although revenues only rose about 13 percent.

Non-GAAP net revenue for the quarter was $1.548 billion, up 13 percent from the year-ago quarter. Net GAAP income was $186 million ($0.22/share) compared to $61 million ($0.7/share) in Q4 fy07.

The company extracted more profit from its revenues because its operating margin rose from 10.3 percent in Q4 fy07 to 13.9 percent in Q4 fy08.

The full year 2008 results  were non-GAAP revenues of $5.937 billion, up 13 percent again, from fy 07's $5.253 billion, and GAAP net income of $464 milion ($0.52/share) versus fy07's $40.4 million ($0.41/share), representing a 27 percent rise in net income.

For the quarter, Symantec's Storage and Server Management segment represented 37 percent of total non-GAAP revenue and grew 11 percent year-over-year. The Consumer business represented 29 percent of total non-GAAP revenue and grew 10 percent year-over-year. The Security and Compliance segment represented 28 percent of total non-GAAP revenue and grew 21 percent year-over-year. Services represented 6 percent of total non-GAAP revenue and grew 12 percent year-over-year.

Symantec's chairman and CEO, John Thompson, said: "Our team executed very well across the board and made significant progress in selling the broader portfolio of products and services to customers. With the strongest product portfolio we've had in years and a solid pipeline, we are well positioned for a strong start and continued success in fiscal year 2009."

Quarterly highlights include Symantec signing 449 agreements worldwide versus 391 in the same period a year ago with a contract value of more than $300,000 each. Of the 449 agreements, 115 had a value of more than $1 million each versus 101 in the same period a year ago. Almost 80 percent of the large deals in the quarter were multiple product deals.

There is no recessionary chill in its outlook. For the Q1 fy09 period Symantec expects revenue of $1.55 -1.59 billion and non-GAAP net income of $0.34-36/share. Wall Street expectations had been $1.5 billion and $/0.31/share respectively.

^{[Paul Roberts, news editor.]}