Security news
Security news18 September 2003
Sophos continues to grow at twice the market rate
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
About Sophos
Sophos enables enterprises all over the world to secure and control their IT infrastructure. Sophos's network access control, endpoint, web and email solutions simplify security to provide integrated defenses against malware, spyware, intrusions, unwanted applications, spam, policy abuse, data leakage and compliance drift. With over 20 years of experience, Sophos protects over 100 million users in nearly 150 countries with its reliably engineered security solutions and services. Recognized for its high level of customer satisfaction and powerful yet easy-to-use solutions, Sophos has received many industry awards, as well as positive reviews and certifications.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com
