Sophos, a world leader in anti-virus protection for businesses,
today announced financial
results for the year ended 31 March 2003.
Global highlights:
- Turnover increased 30% to £41.0 million, up from £31.6 million
in the previous year.
- Profit before tax grew 24% to £12.1 million (2002: £9.8
million).
- Profit after tax grew 59% to £10.1 million (2002: £6.3
million).
Analyst group IDC expects the anti-virus market as a whole to
grow at 15% annually between 2002 and 2007*. This year, Sophos's
turnover grew at twice this rate - 30% - 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% and compound pre-tax profits
growth of 44%.
"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. The UK headcount
alone has increased 34% since April 2001 and is set to continue as
Sophos's new £32 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.
Sophos also increased its number of OEM partnerships. Among
these new partners are Ositis, Stalker, Telnet Media and
Preventon.
A short selection of Sophos's UK customers includes: Bank of
England, BBC, GlaxoSmithKline, Interbrew, Marks & Spencer,
Orange, Oxford University, Royal Air Force, Sainsbury's, Siemens,
Toshiba, WWF and Xerox Corporation.
*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.