Steady and profitable growth continued across all business segments in anti-virus and intrusion prevention. In 2006 total revenues were 80.7m (61.8m), representing 31% growth. Operating profit for 2006 without a non-recurring write-off was 13.7m (7.4m) resulting in 17% operating profit. During the fourth quarter the company’s revenues grew 22% and reached a record level of 22.1 m. Profitability for the fourth quarter was according to expectations (excluding non-recurring write-off).
F-Secure’s Security as a Service offering has been very
successful with Internet Service Providers. F-Secure is leading the
market in Europe in this business area with a market share of 34%,
and has gained a strong position in the North-American market with
a 10% market share. The total number of ISP partners was 136
operating in 34 countries at the end of the year, an increase of 11
partners from Q3. Service Provider revenue growth accelerated
towards the end of the year.
F-Secure’s consumer-focused flagship product, F-Secure Internet
Security 2007 received a number of favourable nominations in
product comparison reviews. For example the product received the
"Best i Test" nomination in PC World in Norway and it was "editors
choice" in the Window News publication in France. F-Secure also
introduced next-generation messaging security solutions, protecting
against spam and viruses already at the gateway level.
Mobile security markets are gradually developing with F-Secure
in the leadership position. F-Secure continued close cooperation
with Nokia and other key players in the mobile market. F-Secure
Mobile Anti-Virus was the first antivirus software for the S60 3rd
Edition smartphone software and it will be available for the
majority of the currently shipping or upcoming Nokia S60 3rd
Edition devices, including Nokia Nseries and Eseries devices. The
number of known mobile malware targeting open operating systems has
now exceeded 340.
"We are pleased to report solid growth in revenues and operating
profit in alignment with our projections", said Kimmo Alkio,
President and CEO of F-Secure Corporation. "We have ensured steady
and profitable growth at group level and kept our leading market
position in the Service Provider business. We start the year 2007
with full thrust and spirit to continue our growth faster than the
overall market".
The interim reports of 2007 will be made public on April 24th
(Q1), July 31st (Q2) and October 24th, (Q3). On those days, a
public press release will be sent at 9:00 Finnish time to the
Helsinki Exchanges while a meeting for the press and analysts will
be held at 11:00 Finnish time in Helsinki. An international phone
conference will also be arranged in the afternoon. More detailed
information will be announced on the corporation’s public
website.
For more information, please contact:
F-Secure Corporation
Kimmo Alkio, CEO, tel. +358 (0)9 2520 5550
Taneli Virtanen, CFO, tel. +358 (0)9 2520 5655
Jukka Kotovirta, Investor Relations, tel. +358 (0)40 588
3933
About F-Secure Corporation
F-Secure Corporation protects consumers and businesses against
computer viruses and other threats from the Internet and mobile
networks. We want to be the most reliable provider of security
services in the market. One way to demonstrate this is the speed of
our response. According to independent studies in 2004, 2005 and
2006 our response time to new threats is significantly faster than
our major competitors. Our award-winning solutions are available
for workstations, gateways, servers and mobile phones. They include
antivirus and desktop firewall with intrusion prevention, antispam
and antispyware solutions, as well as network control solutions for
Internet Service Providers. Founded in 1988, F-Secure has been
listed on the Helsinki Exchanges since 1999, and has been
consistently growing faster than all its publicly listed
competitors. F-Secure headquarters are in Helsinki, Finland, and we
have regional offices around the world. F-Secure protection is also
available as a service through major ISPs, such as France Telecom,
TeliaSonera, PCCW and Charter Communications. F-Secure is the
global market leader in mobile phone protection provided through
mobile operators, such as T-Mobile and Swisscom and mobile handset
manufacturers such as Nokia. The latest real-time virus threat
scenario news are available at the F-Secure Data Security Lab
weblog at
http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/ .
