Symantec caps strong fiscal year 2002 with record revenues

Quarterly Revenue Grows 24 Percent Year-Over-Year

SYDNEY --NSW - April 26, 2002 -- Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC), the world leader in Internet security technology, today reported results for the fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year 2002, ended March 29, 2002. Symantec posted revenue for the quarter of $310.8 million, a 24 percent increase compared to $250.6 million for the same quarter last year. Revenue for fiscal year 2002 was $1.071 billion, a 14 percent increase compared to $944.2 million for fiscal year 2001.

Pro Forma Results
Pro forma net income before one-time charges and the amortisation of acquisition-related expenses, for the fiscal fourth quarter was $65.1 million, compared to $48.2 million from the same quarter last year with earnings per share of $0.41, compared to earnings per share of $0.31 for the year-ago quarter. For fiscal year 2002, Symantec recorded net income before one-time charges and the amortisation of acquisition-related expenses of $200.7 million, compared to $184.2 million in fiscal year 2001 with earnings per share of $1.30, compared to earnings per share of $1.17 for fiscal year 2001. All figures include historical results of operations from the acquired AXENT Technologies.

GAAP Results
Including one-time charges and the amortisation of goodwill and acquisition-related expenses, Symantec reported earnings per share for the fourth quarter of $0.03, compared to a net loss per share of $0.18 for the same quarter last year. For fiscal year 2002, Symantec reported a net loss per share of $0.20 compared to earnings per share of $0.47 for fiscal year 2001.

"This quarter marks the 22nd quarter of year-over-year revenue growth and strong earnings for our company," said John W. Thompson, Symantec Chairman and CEO. "The breadth of our product portfolio helped us grow the enterprise security business by more than 29 percent during this fiscal year to represent more than 43 percent of total sales. The balance between our enterprise and consumer customer base gives us stability during these uncertain economic times." For the quarter, Symantec's worldwide enterprise security business represents 39 percent of total revenue and grew 19 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Symantec's enterprise administration business represents 20 percent of total revenue and grew at 6 percent. Symantec's security services business grew 61 percent during the quarter and represents 1 percent of total revenue. Symantec's consumer business grew at 49 percent and represents 40 percent of total revenue.

International revenues represented 50 percent of total revenue in the fourth quarter and grew by 29 percent over the same quarter last year. Sales in Canada led the increase with 45 percent year-over-year growth followed by sales in Japan at 36 percent growth, sales in Europe, Middle East and Africa at 29 percent growth and sales in Asia Pacific and the United States at 20 percent growth each.

Quarterly Highlights
Symantec signed 128 contracts worldwide worth more than $100,000, including 27 worth more than $300,000 and four worth more than $1 million, during the quarter. Symantec signed new or extended agreements with customers including Knight-Ridder, the United States' second-largest newspaper publisher; BellSouth, a Fortune 100 communications services company; Marathon Ashland Petroleum, a petroleum refining, marketing and transportation company with more than $7 billion in assets; Conoco, Inc., a major, integrated energy company active in more than 40 countries; PNC Financial Services, one of the nation's largest diversified financial services companies; the United States Department of Defense and the Dallas Independent School District. The company's enterprise success is punctuated by the continued expansion of its worldwide customer base, including new or extended contracts with 30 Global 500 and 14 Fortune 100 companies including six of the world's largest banks, three of the world's largest automotive companies, two of the world's largest oil and gas companies and two of the top 10 telecommunications companies in the United States.

In addition, Symantec's managed security services business continues to grow with eight new customers during the March quarter including one of the largest chemical manufacturers in the United States and several regional banks.

At the RSA Conference in February, Symantec launched the industry's first integrated gateway security appliance. Symantec Gateway Security incorporates five core security functions into a single solution to prevent security breaches at the network perimeter. The unique appliance solution combines firewall, gateway-level antivirus, intrusion detection, content filtering and VPN capabilities in a single, easy-to-use appliance for small and medium enterprises and branch offices of large corporations.

Symantec was issued four patents during the quarter, bringing the company's total to 79, including a patent for Symantec's antivirus heuristic technology. Included in all Symantec gateway, server and desktop antivirus solutions, Symantec's patented heuristic technology identifies new threats by directly examining files for suspicious behaviour, without the need for fingerprints. This system provides a powerful complement to traditional fingerprint-based antivirus software by providing protection against new malicious threats before definitions are available.

Symantec continued to expand on the benefits offered to channel partners with the addition of an online training resource providing free sales training and fee-based, instructor-led technical training including courses in firewall and VPN technologies, vulnerability management, intrusion detection, virus protection and content management and security essentials. More than 17.7 million consumers have utilised Symantec Security Check to identify and address online safety threats, making it the most widely visited security-testing site worldwide. Every day, the free web-hosted vulnerability assessment tool provides approximately 55,000 PC and Mac users worldwide with easy-to-understand information on potential security risks from viruses, hackers, and privacy threats and offers recommendations for securing their computers against those risks. To further strengthen the service for home PC users, Symantec Security Check now includes a new tracing service that provides consumers with information about the network from which a potential attack originated and the geographical location of the computer used in the attack.

Conference Call Symantec has scheduled a conference call for 4:30 p.m. EDT today to discuss fiscal fourth quarter results. Interested parties may access the conference call on the Internet at www.symantec.com/invest/. 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. In addition, conference call numbers are available. The listen-only number for domestic callers is 1-800-967-7140, while international listeners can dial 719-457-2629. A replay of the call will be available on the Internet at www.symantec.com/invest/ until May 22, 2002.

About Symantec
Symantec, the world leader in Internet security technology, provides a broad range of content and network security software and appliance solutions to individuals, enterprises and service providers. The company is a leading provider of client, gateway and server security solutions for virus protection, firewall and virtual private network, vulnerability management, intrusion detection, Internet content and e-mail filtering, remote management technologies and security services to enterprises and service providers around the world. Symantec's Norton brand of consumer security products is a leader in worldwide retail sales and industry awards. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has worldwide operations in 38 countries. For more information, please visit www.symantec.com.

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FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT: This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding anticipated activities and 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 risks that current global adverse economic conditions and reduced spending will continue or worsen; currency exchange fluctuations will adversely affect our results; the difficulty of developing and marketing products that compete effectively with others; new security threats and other economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors affecting Symantec's business generally. 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 the Company's previously filed Form 10-K for the year ended March 30, 2001 and the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Dec. 28, 2001.