It’s been a rather mixed week for Symantec with some of the shine taken off of its (mostly) excellent Q3 results when it had to advise PCAnywhere users to disable the software because source code theft had opened up vulnerabilities. And a decline in EMEA revenue created a dull spot.
Symantec is working on an update to remedy the situation for the remote connectivity software. With its high profile security focus, the company is a prime target for hackers but it is highly responsive when situations occur.
The financials (for Q3, ending December 30 2011) were a good news story with revenue up 7% to $1.7bn and net profits up a massive 82% from $132m to £240m.
Break the total down and the picture is as you would expect, with high growth in the Security and Compliance segment (30% of the business), where revenue was up 17%. Storage and Server Management (36% of the business) grew by just 3%. The Consumer segment (31% of the business) saw 5% growth. The remaining 3% of the business comes from Services where revenue decreased 13% as a result of the Symantec’s decision to move to a partner-based consulting model.
Sales around data loss prevention, authentication, managed security services and backup continue to perform well. With mobile and cloud-based usage climbing ever higher, these are critical areas for organisations aiming to securely improve the way their business performs.
Symantec is not the only supplier benefitting from intensifying demand for security products. Security sales helped CA Technologies deliver a strong Q3 (see CA benefits from virtualisation and security). Moving from point product sales to a portfolio based approach is also helping Symantec and it says large deals are at an all time high.
Looking at Symantec from this side of the Atlantic the situation is not quite as bright because revenue from EMEA (27% of total revenue for the quarter) declined by 1%. CA’s international growth also lagged compared to North America over the same period. Two results do not make a trend but are worth watching. The outlook remains good for the company as a whole with Q4 revenue estimated at $1.72bn - $1.73bn, a 2.8% to 3.4% yoy increase.