F-Secure Group’s Financial Results January 1 – September 30, 2002
Improved profitability, continuing growth in anti-virus, especially in service subscriptions through ISPs
For the 3rd quarter of 2002, F-Secure reported revenues of 9.6 million euros. This represents an increase of 5% from the previous quarter and a decrease of 3% from the third quarter of 2001. For the first nine months of 2002 revenue was 28.7 million euros, representing a decline of 6% from the first nine months of 2001.
Result after financial items was EUR 0.1 million negative for the third quarter (1.1m negative in 2Q2002 and 2.2m negative in 3Q2001). For the first nine months of 2002 the operating result was EUR 1.8 million negative (9.4m negative in the first nine months of 2001).
The anti-virus business remained stable with an annual growth of 9% for the first nine months of 2002 compared to the same period a year ago. Also the number of anti-virus service subscriptions grew steadily. The Small Office and Home Office (SOHO) business advanced further as key service provider partners in France and Sweden started promoting their anti-virus and firewall services. The growth of the security subscription business has remained strong with the subscriber base growing a minimum of 20% quarter-over-quarter for six consecutive quarters.
In October, F-Secure and Deutsche Telekom announced a service to be offered by the T-Com division of Deutsche Telekom to its small business customers. The Personal Security Service will combine anti-virus and personal firewall services and will be offered initially to T-Com’s 350,000 small to medium-sized businesses. During 2003 the offering is also available at all T-Punkt retail stores to all customer segments across Germany. After the addition of Deutsche Telekom’s T-Com subsidiary to the Group’s list of service provider partners in early October, the Group has the two largest ISPs in Europe offering managed security based on F-Secure solutions.
The encryption business continued to face long lead times and it declined by 14% in the first nine months of 2002 compared to the same period a year ago. The North American market showed some signs of recovery in Q3, but overall IT spending remained cautious.
“The market conditions improved slightly in the third quarter after the second quarter’s slump. Good team effort in all our offices combined with well-managed cost control led into clear improvement in profitability. The core parts of our business grew during the third quarter. Overall growth was not achieved and we are not satisfied with this part of the outcome. Seeking growth remains our main focus”, says Risto Siilasmaa, President and CEO of F-Secure Corporation.
Financial Reporting
A press and analyst conference will be arranged today, October 29, at 11 am Finnish time at the Group’s Headquarters, Tammasaarenkatu 7, Helsinki. A conference call for international investors and analysts will be arranged at 1530 Finnish time (1430 CET, 1.30 pm UK time). Instructions can be found at http://www.europe.f-secure.com/investor-relations/