CUPERTINO, Calif. - April 23, 2003 - Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC), the world leader in Internet security, today reported results for the fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year ended March 28, 2003. Symantec posted revenue for the quarter of $390 million, a 26 percent increase compared to $311 million for the same quarter last year. Revenue for fiscal year 2003 was $1.407 billion, a 31 percent increase compared to $1.071 billion for fiscal year 2002.

"This is a strong final quarter that closes an exceptional year for Symantec," said John W. Thompson, Symantec Chairman and CEO. "Both the quarter and the year came in well ahead of expectations with record revenue and earnings during very challenging times. Our diverse set of customers, best-of-breed security solutions and unmatched geographic diversity all contributed to our success."

GAAP Results: Net income for the fiscal fourth quarter was $68 million, compared to $5 million from the same quarter last year. Earnings per share was $0.41, compared to earnings per share of $0.03 for the same quarter last year. For fiscal year 2003, Symantec reported net income of $248 million, compared to a net loss of $28 million for fiscal year 2002. Earnings per share was $1.54, compared to a net loss per share of $0.20 for fiscal year 2002.

Non-GAAP Results: Non-GAAP net income for the fiscal fourth quarter was $78 million, compared to $65 million from the same quarter last year. Non-GAAP earnings per share was $0.47, compared to earnings per share of $0.41 for the year-ago quarter. For fiscal year 2003, Symantec reported non-GAAP net income of $280 million, compared to $201 million in fiscal year 2002. Non-GAAP earnings per share was $1.72, compared to earnings per share of $1.30 for fiscal year 2002. Non-GAAP results, as outlined in the attached consolidated statements, exclude expenses from the amortization of goodwill, the amortization of other intangibles from acquisitions, acquired in-process research and development and restructuring and site closures as well as related income tax benefits. See "Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information" below.

Revenue Components
For the quarter, Symantec's worldwide enterprise security business represented 41 percent of total revenue and grew 32 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Symantec's consumer business grew 32 percent and represented 43 percent of total revenue.

International revenues represented 51 percent of total revenue in the fourth quarter and grew 28 percent over the same quarter last year. Sales in Europe, Middle East and Africa led the increase with 36 percent year-over-year growth while sales in the United States grew 23 percent.

Quarterly Highlights

• Symantec signed 152 contracts worldwide worth more than $100,000 each, including 28 worth more than $300,000 each and 9 worth more than $1 million each, during the quarter. Symantec signed new or extended agreements with customers including the United States Department of Treasury and Department of State; the New York State Office Of Cyber Security and Critical Infrastructure Coordination; General Dynamics, a market leader in defense systems and civilian transportation; Tribune Company, one of the country's premier media companies, operating businesses in broadcasting, publishing and on the Internet, reaching more than 80 percent of U.S. households; Maytag Corporation, a leading producer of home and commercial appliances; CNF Inc., a $4.8 billion management company of global supply chain services for commercial and industrial customers; Sealed Air, a leading global manufacturer of a wide range of food, protective and specialty packaging materials and systems; Belgacom, Belgium's leading telecommunications operator; MG Technologies, an international engineering and chemicals technology group based in Germany, and Unipol, an Italian insurance company.
  
  
• The industry’s premier global early warning system was unveiled with the release of Symantec DeepSight Threat Management System 4.0. This unique early warning system provides enterprises a comprehensive birds-eye view of global Internet attacks in a timely manner, delivering quick analyses and countermeasures to protect against or even avoid malicious threats. The system gathers data from more than 19,000 partners in over 180 countries – the most extensive data network in the world.
  
  
• Symantec launched the first in a series of integrated mail security products, introducing a multi-layered spam prevention solution integrated with award-winning virus protection. With Symantec AntiVirus for SMTP Gateways 3.1, enterprises now have a single solution for turning their Internet e-mail gateways into a first line of defense against both the growing onslaught of unsolicited e-mail and the danger of malicious code.
  
  
• The Internet Security Threat Report was released, which provides the most comprehensive analysis of trends in cyber security activity. The report covers network-based attack activity, vulnerability discovery, and malicious code.
  
  
• Symantec extended its joint product offering with T-Online, one of Europe’s largest Internet service providers, to include defense against hackers and online intrusions. Now T-Online’s 10 million European customers can benefit from the unrivaled protection of both Norton AntiVirus and Norton Personal Firewall for one monthly subscription service fee.
  
  

Awards
Symantec products received the following awards from industry publications during the quarter:

• CRN's prestigious Channel Champion Awards for intrusion detection, firewall and antivirus solutions.
• CRN's "Product of the Year" for Symantec Enterprise Firewall in the software firewall category.
• PC Magazine named Norton Internet Security 2003 to Best of 2002 list.
• Virus Bulletin awards Symantec AntiVirus with VB 100% for the 19th time.
• CNET News.com named Norton AntiVirus, Norton Internet Security and Norton Personal Firewall to their Editor's Top Software List.
• SC Magazine gives Recommended Award to Norton Internet Security, Symantec Enterprise Security Manager and pcANYWHERE.
• SC Magazine provided Readers Trust Awards to Symantec Enterprise Security Manager, Symantec Client Security and Symantec Gateway Security.
• PC World listed Norton AntiVirus, Norton SystemWorks, and Norton Internet Security as top utilities in annual utilities guide.
• Computer Shopper readers named Norton SystemWorks as the Best Software of 2002 and received the Reader's Picks award.

Business Outlook
Management offers the following forward-looking guidance for the fiscal first quarter 2004 ending July 4, 2003:

• Revenue is expected to be in the range of $370 to $390 million.
• GAAP earnings per share is expected to be $0.34 at the midpoint of the revenue guidance.
• Non-GAAP earnings per share is expected to be $0.38 at the midpoint of the revenue guidance.

Management offers the following forward-looking guidance for fiscal year 2004, ending April 2, 2004:

• Revenue is expected to be approximately $1.65 billion.
• GAAP earnings per share is expected to be $1.75 at the stated revenue forecast.
• Non-GAAP earnings per share is expected to be $1.88 at the stated revenue forecast.

Non-GAAP earnings per share excludes the pre-tax amortization of intangibles from acquisitions of approximately $9 million and $34 million for the quarter ending July 4, 2003 and the fiscal year ending April 2, 2004, respectively.

USE OF NON-GAAP FINANCIAL INFORMATION: In addition to reporting financial results in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, Symantec reports non-GAAP financial results. Non-GAAP net income and earnings per share exclude acquisition related charges, such as acquired in-process research and development and amortization of goodwill and other intangibles, and certain other charges, such as restructurings and site closures, as well as the tax effect of these items. Symantec's management believes these non-GAAP measures are useful to investors because they provide supplemental information that facilitates comparisons to prior periods. Management uses these non-GAAP measures to evaluate its financial results, develop budgets and manage expenditures. The method Symantec uses to produce non-GAAP results is not computed according to GAAP, is likely to differ from the methods used by other companies and should not be regarded as a replacement for corresponding GAAP measures. Investors are encouraged to review the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP results, which is attached to this re

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT: This press release contains forward-looking statements, including forecasts of future revenue and earnings per share, expected industry patterns, and other financial and business results that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from results expressed or implied by this press release. Such risk factors include, among others: the sustainability of recent growth rates, particularly in consumer products; whether certain market segments, particularly enterprise security, grow as anticipated; the positioning of Symantec's products in those segments; the competitive environment in the software industry; ability to integrate acquired companies and technology; ability to retain key employees; ability to successfully combine product offerings and customer acceptance of combined products; general market conditions, fluctuations in currency exchange rates, changes to operating systems and product strategy by vendors of operating systems; and whether Symantec can successfully develop new products and the degree to which these gain market acceptance. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements in this press release. Additional information concerning these and other risk factors is contained in the Risk Factors sections of Symantec’s previously filed Form 10-K and Form 10-Q.

lease and can be found on the investor relations Web site at www.symantec.com/invest/center.html.

Conference Call
Symantec has scheduled a conference call for 5:30 p.m. EDT/2:30 p.m. PDT today to discuss fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year 2003 results, and to review guidance for the fiscal first quarter and fiscal year 2004. Interested parties may access the conference call on the Internet at http://www.symantec.com/invest/index.html. To listen to the live call, please go to the Web site at least 15 minutes early to register, download and install any necessary audio software. A replay will be available on the investor relations home page shortly after the call is completed.

Consolidated Financial Statements

About Symantec
Symantec is the world leader in providing solutions to help individuals and enterprises assure the security, availability, and integrity of their information. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has operations in more than 40 countries. More information is available at www.symantec.com.

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