Symbian Limited Q1 2004 results

LONDON, United Kingdom, 6th May 2004 - Symbian Limited today released the following unaudited financial and operational figures for the first quarter ended 31st March 2004:

Q1 2004 Highlights

• Global shipments of Symbian OS-based phones reached 2.40m units in Q1 2004 (Q1 2003: 1.18m units), a year-on-year increase of more than 100%
• Symbian OS licensees are now shipping a total of 18 Symbian OS products to network operators in Japan and throughout GSM / GPRS territories worldwide
• Three new Symbian OS licensees were announced in Q1 2004:

  • volumesLG Electronics, the world's fifth largest mobile phone manufacturer
  • Arima, one of Taiwan's leading manufacturers of mobile phones
  • Lenovo, formerly known as the Legend Group, the largest IT corporation in China

• Symbian OS licensees commenced shipment of two new Symbian OS products in Q1 2004 (Q1 2003: 3 products), Nokia 3620 and NTT DoCoMo's F900i made by Fujitsu
• Seven new products were announced by Symbian OS licensees:
  • Motorola announced A1000, Motorola's third Symbian OS product and the sixth 3G product based on Symbian OS volumes
  • Nokia announced the Nokia 9500 Communicator; Nokia 7610 and Nokia 6620 imaging smartphones
  • Panasonic announced its first product based on Symbian OS, X700
  • Samsung announced its new Symbian OS-based smartphone, SGH-D710
  • Siemens announced a variant of SX-1 for the Chinese market

• Symbian OS v8.0 – the latest version of Symbian OS – released to licensees to enable accelerated development of lower cost Symbian OS phones, enhanced device management, multimedia and Java capabilities
• At the end of Q1 2004, 30 phones and variants based on Symbian OS were under development by 9 licensees (Q1 2003, 20 phones & variants and 9 licensees) – see Notes to Editors for definitions

David Levin, Chief Executive Officer, Symbian Ltd said:
"Symbian has performed in line with our expectations in the first quarter of 2004. Three new Symbian OS licensees were signed, including LG Electronics, the world's fifth largest handset manufacturer; Arima, a leading Taiwanese manufacturer; and, Lenovo, the largest IT corporation in China.

The number of Symbian OS products in the market, commencing shipment, being announced and under development grew in comparison with Q1 2003, with shipments of Symbian OS products increasing by 103%.

I am particularly encouraged by Symbian's strengthening position in Japan. With the launch of Fujitsu's third Symbian OS product for NTT DoCoMo's 3G FOMA network in just over a year, and with NTT DoCoMo's announcement of its Mobile Oriented Application Platform optimised for Symbian OS products, Symbian continues to focus on and develop its position in the Japanese market which is leading the world in the deployment of 3G networks.

With new phones from Fujitsu and Nokia commencing shipment in Q1 2004, a total of 18 Symbian OS-based phones from five licensees were shipping to network operators in Japan and throughout GSM / GPRS territories worldwide.

The seven new products announced in the Quarter show Symbian OS enabling development of products for a wide range of customer segments, geographical markets and types of mobile network. Motorola announced its third Symbian OS 3G, W-CDMA product, Panasonic and Samsung announced smartphones for worldwide GSM / GPRS markets, Siemens announced a variant of the SX-1 for the Chinese market and Nokia announced the 9500 Communicator, targeted at the enterprise market with WLAN and EDGE network capabilities.

The number of Symbian OS phones and phone variants under development continues to expand. At the end of Q1 2004, 30 phones and variants based on Symbian OS were being readied for market by 9 licensees (Q1 2003, 20 phones & variants and 9 licensees).

The proposed sale by Psion to Nokia of its equity in Symbian, announced on 9th February 2004, has been approved by Psion shareholders and has received approval from the Finnish and Austrian competition authorities. The proposed sale transaction will become unconditional on receipt of approval from the German Bundeskartellamt. A subsequent pre-emption process will determine allocation of the Psion equity between Symbian's remaining shareholders."

Unaudited Financial and Operational Highlights

	Q1 2004	Q4 2003	Q1 2003
Symbian OS Units	2.40m	2.76m	1.18m
Average Royalty / Unit *	US$6.6	US$6.7	US$6.0
Royalty GP % *	83%	84%	84%
Turnover (£m)	£'m	£'m	£'m
Royalties *	8.7	10.9	4.4
Consulting services	3.8	3.5	4.2
Partnering & Other	0.4	0.6	0.6
Total	12.9	15.0	9.2
Gross operating expenses	£18.3m	£16.8m	£17.7m
Average permanent headcount	764	750	710
	End Q1 2004	End Q4 2003	End Q1 2003
Cash at hand & in bank	£16.2m	£21.9m	£32.3m
	End Q1 2004	End Q4 2003	End Q1 2003
No. of products in development	30	26	20
No. of licensees with products in development	9	9	9
* Royalties comprise Symbian OS & UIQ

These results do not constitute statutory accounts. They were prepared under the same accounting policies stated in the lasted audited accounts of the company, which have been filed with Companies House and may be obtained from:

Notes to Editors

1. Definitions and additional information
   
   Royalty revenue – Symbian receives a royalty on each phone based on Symbian OS shipped by licensees. From Symbian OS v7.0 onwards, the royalty has been set at $7.25 per unit for the first 2 million units shipped by a licensee and $5 per unit thereafter. Symbian also receives additional royalty revenue for devices shipping with the UIQ user interface supplied by Symbian’s subsidiary, UIQ Technology AB. Symbian outsources certain technologies when either i) there is already an industry standard developed by another party (e.g. Java from Sun); or ii) the technology is more efficiently provided by an outside supplier (e.g. WAP / web browsers; personal computer connectivity).
   
   Consulting revenue – Symbian undertakes consultancy activities to assist its licensees implement Symbian OS in new handsets. Symbian receives revenue to cover costs (including full overhead recovery) and provide a commercial gross profit. The level of consulting revenue will fluctuate depending upon the volume of new engagements with licensees and the ability of licensees to develop new devices without the assistance of Symbian.
   
   Partnering & Other revenue – Symbian derives a further revenue stream from training activities, partner activities (including the Symbian Platinum Partner Program) and trade shows (including the annual Symbian Exposium). These activities are designed to promote Symbian OS and are therefore priced only to enable full cost recovery.
   
   Products in development – Symbian defines a product in development on basis of the criteria below:
   
   
   • Symbian OS licensee has a significant development team engaged on the project
   • there is a clearly defined plan to take the product through development to shipping
   • the product is anticipated to ship in commercial volumes
      

2. About Symbian
   
   Symbian is a software licensing company that develops and licenses Symbian OS, the global open industry standard operating system for advanced, data-enabled mobile phones.
   
   Symbian has licensed Symbian OS to the world's leading mobile phone manufacturers including Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Siemens and Sony Ericsson. Symbian OS phones from Fujitsu, Motorola, Nokia and Sony Ericsson are now shipping to network operators worldwide. For information about phones based on Symbian OS.
   
   
   
   Symbian has its global headquarters in London, United Kingdom with development sites in Europe and Asia.
   
   
   

Media Enquiries

Peter Bancroft VP, Communications Symbian Ltd +44 20 7154 1546

Chris Barrie Citigate Dewe Rogerson + 44 20 7638 9571