Overall Group revenue for the 13-month period increased by 196% to $42.2m (2000: $14.3m).

Filtering revenues for the quarter increased 278% to $14.7m, versus $3.9m for fourth quarter last year. In addition, the Company announced that it expects to be cash positive in the third quarter of the current fiscal year and profitable shortly afterward, well ahead of projections.

The challenge that we set ourselves at the beginning of the 13-month period was to build a world leading Company, to achieve exceptional growth, increase visibility, establish global presence and to create the foundation on which to build a profitable business, said Steve Purdham, CEO of SurfControl. I am pleased to report that not only have we achieved these goals, we have surpassed expectations in all areas, continued Purdham.

The path to profitability has been set by a solid foundation of events over the past fiscal year including:

SurfControl now recognized as the leading provider of Internet filtering software:

A recently completed report by respected industry analyst firm IDC confirmed SurfControl’s leadership position in the Corporate Web Filtering segment of the market, also known as Employee Internet Management (EIM), with a 17% share of the EIM market. The Company’s nearest competitor has only a 13% share of the EIM market. An IDC report published in June on the worldwide Internet security software market ranked SurfControl number 25 in the overall security market, further evidence of the company’s strong leadership position in the Web and Email Filtering segment.

The successful launch of the new SuperScout Email Filter

The new SuperScout Email Filter together with SurfControl’s market leading web filtering software positions SurfControl to provide organizations with a complete Internet filtering solution. Organizations across all sectors and regions are looking to web and email filtering to provide an immediate and cost effective solution to getting the most return on investment from the Internet as a business and educational resource.

Globalization of company for market penetration and economies of scale

The Company has established a global presence with offices worldwide in locations that are projected to see the highest growth rates for the Internet filtering segment such as Europe (CAGR of 21% by 2005) and Asia Pacific (CAGR of 32%). Globalization of R&D and other functions over five time zones has yielded significant advantages and cost-efficiencies.

Recognition of the Company’s state-of-the-art technology by the industry

Top industry trade journals have recognized the quality of the Company’s technology. For example in the last quarter alone, SC magazine awarded its highest 5 Star award to SurfControl for both SuperScout Web and SuperScout Email, as well as SurfControl’s product for the education market, Cyber Patrol.

Significant new OEM partnerships

New OEM partners IBM, TAK and Intel join the over 60 OEM customers worldwide that have selected SurfControl’s award-winning filter technology to enhance their own solutions.

Reseller Channel continues to grow

Business from the Company’s extensive distribution and reseller network continues to grow, with revenues from the channel increasing to $4.0 million in Q4, as compared to $0.7 for the same period last year.

SOURCE: COMPANY PRESS RELEASE