Symantec to cut eight per cent of workforce as enterprise sales tumble

Security giant sees enterprise revenue drop 14 per cent

Symantec is set to axe eight per cent of its workforce after the vendor saw quarterly revenue decline and slashed its forecasts.

In its Q1 - the three months ending 29 June - Symantec saw revenue drop 1.6 per cent.

The vendor also slashed its yearly adjusted revenue forecast from between $4.76bn (£3.66bn) and $4.90bn to between $4.67bn and $4.79bn.

The workforce culls are expected to save Symantec around $115m annually, according to Reuters.

On conference call, transcribed by Seeking Alpha, Symantec CFO Nicholas Noviello said: "In fiscal year 2020, our outlook for total company operating margins is in the mid-30s.

"[In] this fiscal year 2020 operating margin outlook reflects expected revenue growth in both our enterprise security and consumer digital safety segments, as well as a set of cost reduction actions we will take during the remainder of fiscal year 2019.

"As part of these actions, our board has approved approximately $50m of restructuring costs in connection with a plan to reduce company global headcount by up to approximately eight per cent.

"We expect that these actions will partially benefit fiscal year 2019 operating margins and will have full effect for fiscal year 2020."

Symantec's share price nosedived almost 13 per cent when the stock market reopened, meaning the vendor's share price has now fallen by over a quarter this year.

Martin Courtney of TechMarketView highlighted Symantec's enterprise revenue decline of 14 per cent as the real cause for concern.

"The 1.6 per cent decline spans both its enterprise and consumer security businesses," he said.

"As such it masks a much steeper fall in sales to enterprise customers… blamed on a longer-than-expected sales cycle for large, multi-product platform contracts in the US market.

"Only time (and future performance) will tell. But this looks like a critical juncture in Symantec's timeline that will demand strong leadership and focus to get the enterprise business back on track."