Symantec 2009 Annual Report Download - page 2

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 2 of the 2009 Symantec annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 167

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106
  • 107
  • 108
  • 109
  • 110
  • 111
  • 112
  • 113
  • 114
  • 115
  • 116
  • 117
  • 118
  • 119
  • 120
  • 121
  • 122
  • 123
  • 124
  • 125
  • 126
  • 127
  • 128
  • 129
  • 130
  • 131
  • 132
  • 133
  • 134
  • 135
  • 136
  • 137
  • 138
  • 139
  • 140
  • 141
  • 142
  • 143
  • 144
  • 145
  • 146
  • 147
  • 148
  • 149
  • 150
  • 151
  • 152
  • 153
  • 154
  • 155
  • 156
  • 157
  • 158
  • 159
  • 160
  • 161
  • 162
  • 163
  • 164
  • 165
  • 166
  • 167

DEAR SHAREHOLDERS,
As I begin my new role as Symantec’s President and CEO, I am
committed to gaining share in our core markets. Symantec holds the leading
position in our key markets, but we will not rest on our laurels. We will gain
share by bringing the highest quality products to market, collaborating across
product lines in order to drive further product integration, increasing cross-
selling opportunities and expect to exceed customers’ expectations.
As I took over the CEO role, without question, there were important issues to address. Decision-
making needed to happen faster, accountability had to be clearer, and we needed to concentrate even
more intently on our customers. My first task as CEO was to simplify our structure and focus our
organization on a few key areas. This allows us to make improvements in the product quality process,
streamline integration across the portfolio, and focus on operational efficiency. We have determined our
key focus areas for the new fiscal year, and how we are going to measure success. These metrics are an
important step in becoming more consistent and empowering us to win in fiscal 2010 and beyond.
When the going gets tough, companies must concentrate on what they can control, and our focus
on streamlining operations and managing costs intensified accordingly during fiscal 2009. Difficult
decisions were necessary, including reducing headcount. The result was better than expected
profitability and operating margin expansion. Looking forward, I will be emphasizing accountability for
results and even greater cost efficiency, particularly given the economic environment.
FINANCIAL RESULTS
In fiscal 2009, we achieved both record revenue and earnings per share, despite a challenging
macro-economic environment. Non-GAAP
1
revenue grew 5% to more than $6.2 billion, generating
non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.57. Non-GAAP deferred revenue remained stable at $3.1 billion
and we generated cash flow from operating activities of $1.7 billion.
Our discipline in managing expenses resulted in non-GAAP operating margin expansion of
360 basis points during fiscal year 2009. While this exceeded our goal for the year, we still see
opportunities to improve our cost structure.
Furthermore, we continued to demonstrate our commitment to increasing shareholder value by
repurchasing a total of $700 million of our common stock.
SYMANTEC IS ABOUT SECURING AND MANAGING INFORMATION
Symantec’s goal is to help customers secure and manage their information while helping them to
drive cost out of their IT infrastructure. Our core strategy has remained fundamentally sound, even in
this challenging economic environment, as our products help reduce risks and costs for our customers.
While spending time with our customers, I’ve observed the increasing value of information. Underlying
data such as a company’s records or a family’s photos is the most valuable asset that our customers
possess. Furthermore, this information has been growing at explosive rates.
Concurrently, the number and complexity of threats are growing. During 2008, we created
1.6 million security signatures, more than the number we created in the previous 17 years. The recent
1
1
Non-GAAP results are reconciled to GAAP results on page 5.