Sophos Asia moves to bigger office to cope with business
expansion
Singapore - Sophos, a world leader in anti-virus protection for
businesses, today announced financial results for the year ended
31st March 2003.
Global highlights:
- Turnover increased 30 percent to GBP1.0 million, up from GBP1.6
million in the previous year.
- Profit before tax grew 24 percent to GBP2.1 million (2002:
GBP.8 million).
- Profit after tax grew 59 percent to GBP0.1 million (2002: GBP.3
million).
Analyst group IDC expects the anti-virus market as a whole to
grow at 15 percent annually between 2002 and 2007*. This year,
Sophos's turnover grew at twice this rate - 30 percent -
demonstrating the company's continued success in capturing market
share in the highly competitive anti-virus market.
The company has now enjoyed several consecutive years of
impressive and steady growth. Since 1994, Sophos has experienced
compound annual turnover growth of 42 percent and compound pre-tax
profits growth of 44 percent.
"Sophos has achieved consistent growth over the last year and
for the third consecutive year we have outperformed the anti-virus
market as a whole," said Peter Lammer, joint CEO for Sophos Plc.
"Our strategy of developing protection specifically designed for
networked corporate environments, backed up with round-the-clock
support, is clearly working."
Sophos has continued to experience strong employee growth, with
the current total headcount nearing 550 employees. Headcount is
expected to continue to grow as Sophos's new GBP2 million global
headquarters is scheduled to open alongside its existing
Oxfordshire offices in October 2003.
The company also expanded its worldwide reach with certification
for use in mainland China and will be releasing versions of its
award-winning products in Brazilian Portuguese and Korean as well
as traditional and simplified Chinese.
In Asia, Sophos has moved to a new and bigger office to cope
with business expansion. "Since setting up our office in Asia in
November 2001, annual sales have grown 9 times, staff jumped by
over 200 per cent and our Business Partner network comprises more
than 60 companies in the region," said Charles Cousins, managing
director of Sophos Anti-Virus Asia. "We are bullish on the
anti-virus market in Asia and we are recruiting more staff and
business partners to meet growing demand. In addition, our OEM and
ISP business is taking off very rapidly."
*IDC Bulletin 29635R - Worldwide Secure Content
Management Forecast Update and Competitive Vendor Shares,
2002-2007
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.