Symbian Limited Q4 2003 results

LONDON, United Kingdom – 23 February 2004 – Symbian Limited today released the following unaudited financial and operational figures for the fourth quarter ended 31st December 2003:

Q4 2003 Highlights

• Global shipments of Symbian OS-based phones reached 2.76m units in Q4 2003 (Q4 2002: 0.98m units), shipments for 2003 reached a total of 6.67m (2002 – 2.0m).
• First month in which more than one million units were shipped by Symbian OS licensees (December).
• Fourth consecutive Quarter in which more than one million Symbian OS-based phones were shipped.
• Cumulative shipments since Symbian’s establishment reached more than 10 million units in December 2003.
• Eight new Symbian OS phone models shipped in the Quarter from Motorola, Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson to network operators worldwide.
• A total of 18 Symbian OS phone models from five Symbian OS licensees were shipping in the period.
• Two Symbian OS licensees shipped four 3G handset models during 2003 to NTT DoCoMo in Japan and to the “3” network for use across Europe.
• After the launch of eight new Symbian OS phones during the Quarter, at the end of Q4 2003 26 phones and variants based on Symbian OS were under development by nine licensees (see Notes to Editors for definitions).
  

David Levin, Chief Executive Officer, Symbian Ltd said:
"Symbian saw continued good progress during Q4 2003 with Symbian OS licensees shipping 2.76 million Symbian OS phones, bringing shipments for 2003 to more than 6.67 million. Symbian reached the ‘million phones in a month’ milestone for the first time in December. At the same time we crossed the 10 million unit mark for cumulative shipments".

With eight new phones from Motorola, Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson beginning shipment in the fourth Quarter, a total of 18 Symbian OS-based phones from five licensees were shipping by the end of the year.

At the end of Q4 2003, at total of 26 phones and variants were being readied for market by nine Symbian OS licensees (end of Q4 2002: 23 phones and variants by nine Symbian OS licensees). We anticipate four Symbian OS licensees to begin shipments of further new products in the first Quarter of 2004, with the majority of the products in development likely to reach the market over the course of the next 18 months.

The market for Symbian OS products is experiencing encouraging growth, albeit from a small base relative to the size of the overall phone market. The longer term prospects for Symbian are positive but at this early stage of market development, they remain subject to considerable uncertainty.

Symbian's commitment to all its licensees and its unique independent governance structure make it the logical partner for the industry as software becomes a progressively more critical asset".

- Ends -

Symbian Limited will hold a press conference today at 4.45pm at Hotel Martinez, La Croisette, Cannes, France.

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.

Symbian has its global headquarters in London, United Kingdom with development sites in Europe and Asia.

For further information about Symbian:
visit www.symbian.com
mail press@symbian.com

Unaudited Financial and Operational Highlights

	Q4 2003	Q3 2003	Q4 2002
Symbian OS Units	2.76m	1.23m	0.98m
Average Royalty / Unit *	US$6.7	US$5.7	US$5.5
Royalty GP % *	84%	82%	76%
Turnover (£m)	£'m	£'m	£'m
Royalties *	10.9	4.4	3.4
Consulting services	3.5	4.5	6.3
Partnering & Other	0.6	0.5	0.2
Total	15.0	9.4	9.9
Average permanent headcount	750	743	689
	End Q4 2003	End Q3 2003	End Q4 2002
Cash at hand & in bank	£21.9m	£23.4m	£18.2m
	End Q4 2003	End Q3 2003	End Q4 2002
No. of products in development	26	31	23
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:

Company Secretary,
Symbian Limited,
2-6 Boundary Row,
Southwark,
London SE1 8HP
United Kingdom

Media Enquiries

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

Chris Barrie, Freida Davidson Citigate Dewe Rogerson + 44 20 7638 9571