Trend Micro Q4 earnings fall, more decline expected

End-point security company Trend Micro Inc. reported sinking revenues and income for its fourth fiscal quarter of 2008, and projects further losses in the first quarter of 2009.

Trend Micro reported sinking revenue and income for its fourth fiscal quarter of 2008, and projects further decline looking forward in 2009.

Despite Trend Micro's industry wins that included the launch of its Smart Protection Network, expanded service offerings and innovations in e-mail encryption products, the end-point and Web security company's sales revenue appears to be on a steady tilt downward with the worsening economic crisis.

For its fourth fiscal quarter of 2008, Tokyo-based Trend Micro reported US$250 million in total sales, representing an 8 percent decrease compared with its fourth quarter of 2007. Meanwhile, Trend Micro reported a net income of US$50 million for the quarter, which fell 7 percent compared with its fourth fiscal quarter of 2007.

For 2008, Trend Micro reported revenue at US$985 million, representing a 2 percent annual growth rate, and a net income of US$186 million, which tumbled 18 percent from 2007.

Revenue from products and services targeting enterprises, midsize and SMB customers around the globe comprised 70 percent of 2008 revenues, while consumer business constitutes about 30 percent of the company's total revenue.

"In 2008, we made Trend Micro Smart Protection Network the industry standard for content security," said Eve Chen, Trend Micro CEO, in a written statement. "This coming year, we will continue to further that vision by unveiling more Smart Protection Network powered products, solutions and proof that our cloud client architecture is the smartest way to deal with data-stealing malware."

Looking forward, sales for the first quarter of 2009 are expected to fall 6 percent, while net income is expected to plummet 35 percent to $35 million.

Among Trend Micro's 2008 highlights was the June launch of its Smart Protection Network, a cloud-based technology designed to protect customers from Web threats.

In addition, Trend Micro developed a Threat Management Solution for enterprises that discovers, mitigates and manages threats hidden internally in the network. It also expanded its e-mail encryption product line with the launch of Trend Micro E-mail Encryption Gateway 5.0, targeting midsize- and large-business customers that encrypt e-mail communication on the Internet gateway.

Meanwhile, Trend Micro established a partnership with BigFix Inc. to deliver end-point security management services and products scaled to large enterprise customers. The company also entered the e-mail encryption market after acquiring Identum, a developer of identity-based encryption technology, made new innovations targeting the VMware Platform and virtualized environments, and further expanded its service offering through partnerships with Cisco, Crossbeam Systems, VMWare and Bizanga.