VeriSign Reports Second Quarter Results
PR Newswire - July 22, 1999 16:30
New Distribution Agreements and Expanded Services Support Record Sales
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., July 22 /PRNewswire/ -- VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN) today announced revenue of $18.7 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 1999, a 119% increase over revenue of $8.6 million reported in the quarter ended June 30, 1998. Second quarter revenue increased 20% over the $15.6 million of revenue reported in the previous quarter ended March 31, 1999. In addition, deferred revenue, which consists predominantly of unamortized subscriber fees, increased to $20.2 million as of June 30, 1999, a 143% increase over the prior fiscal year period and a 26% increase from the quarter ended March 31, 1999.
On a per share basis, VeriSign reported breakeven results for the second quarter ended June 30, 1999 compared to a loss of $0.11 per share in the quarter ended June 30, 1998 and a loss of $0.04 per share for the prior quarter ended March 31, 1999.
"It's very clear that electronic commerce is re-shaping the way that organizations all over the world are attracting customers and managing their businesses," said Stratton Sclavos, president and CEO of VeriSign. "We believe our second quarter results are indicative of this trend as we saw strong demand for our trust services on a global basis."
In the website business, VeriSign's lead generation efforts and expanded service offerings continued to drive strong demand for its website certificates. VeriSign sold over 27,000 certificates in the quarter, representing a 93% increase in unit volumes from the year ago period and an 18% increase over the prior quarter. Over 150,000 website certificates have now been sold on a cumulative basis to protect the websites of online merchants, financial institutions and other organizations.
In the enterprise business, momentum continued to build during the quarter with the addition of over 100 new customers for the VeriSign OnSite(SM) managed service. Well over 500 businesses, government agencies and educational institutions now use the Company's managed PKI and digital certificate services to conduct secure business-to-business commerce and communications for a variety of applications including, retail commerce, supply chain management, online customer support, and virtual private networks.
VeriSign also added four new international service providers in Australia, Greece, the Middle East, and Canada to the growing VeriSign Trust Network(SM). With the addition of these four companies, VeriSign now has 14 international service providers in its Affiliate Program. Each affiliate offers a co-branded set of trust services for a specific geographic region or vertical market.
Other Highlights in Q2
VeriSign further solidified its leading market position in the website business with the announcement of several key relationships in the second quarter. These included a strategic relationship with Visa U.S.A. to allow any of Visa's 21,000 member banks to issue VeriSign SSL digital certificates to their merchant customers who wish to accept payments securely over the Internet. In addition, VeriSign signed an agreement with Critical Path to jointly develop and market secure messaging services to Critical Path's customer base. VeriSign and Network Solutions also announced an agreement to allow users of Network Solutions' new dot com directory to easily locate trusted sites through the display of VeriSign's secure site seal.
In addition, VeriSign announced several major enhancements to its Secure Site Reseller Program, launched in January of this year. Enhancements to the program include the addition of 128-bit and secure messaging certificates to the range of existing certificates; an automated customer management interface; and a range of co-marketing programs tailored to the needs of individual ISPs. As part of the program, leading ISPs and web hosting companies, including AboveNet, Digex, Concentric, Interland, Interpath and Verio, will integrate VeriSign's services with their e-commerce offerings, enabling accelerated deployment across their broad customer bases. Nearly 2,400 ISPs and web hosting companies are now in the Secure Site program, with over 1,000 new members added in the second quarter alone.
VeriSign also launched its revolutionary Go Secure!(SM) Services for enterprise customers, extending the value of the OnSite managed service, and rapidly accelerating the way organizations of any size can deploy secure e-commerce applications. Go Secure! for Microsoft Exchange, also announced in the second quarter, is the first offering in the new family of services. It enables users of Microsoft Exchange, the leading e-mail platform for enterprises, to now seamlessly acquire and use digital certificates for secure e-mail. Additional Go Secure! services for secure web access and virtual private networks are planned for the second half of the year.
VeriSign, Inc.
VeriSign, Inc. is the leading provider of the Internet trust services and digital certificate solutions needed by websites, enterprises and individuals in order to conduct trusted and secure electronic commerce and communications over IP networks. VeriSign's Digital Certificate services for websites and consumers are available through the Company's website and a growing number of ISPs and web hosting companies. The Company's Digital Certificate services for enterprises and electronic commerce service providers are available through regional account representatives, resellers, and global affiliates.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These statements include statements as to the electronic commerce market, the distribution of the Company's services through third parties and the Company's introduction of new services. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the Company's limited operating history, which makes the prediction of future operating results difficult; continued growth in the use of electronic commerce; market acceptance of digital certificates and the Company's products and services in particular; competition; interruptions or security breaches in the Company's systems; the ability of the Company's current, as well as any future, international affiliates to increase brand awareness and revenues; the Company's ability to develop and introduce new services which achieve market acceptance; and the Company's ability to manage its growth and expansion. More information about potential factors which could affect the Company's financial results is included in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K as originally filed with the SEC on February 22, 1999, as well as other reports that the Company files with the SEC. VeriSign assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.
NOTE: VeriSign is a registered trademark exclusively licensed to VeriSign, Inc. OnSite, VeriSign Trust Network and Go Secure! are service marks of VeriSign, Inc. All other trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
|
