Surfcontrol cashes in on rise in spam

Published on Tuesday 4 November 2003 00:00

SURFCONTROL, the British-based e-mail filtering company, has reported sharply higher first-quarter profits as demand for e-mail inboxes uncluttered by pornography and get-rich-quick schemes brought in new customers.

The firm’s anti-spam services gained 1415 customers including ICI, Norwich Union, the Sydney Opera House Trust and the United States Defence Logistics Agency, it said in a statement.

Sales climbed 25 per cent to 11.62 million in the three months ended September 30, while pre-tax profit rose to 2m, against 531,000 a year ago.

Last week, US technology tracker International Data Corp estimated 32 per cent of North American e-mail sent in 2003 was spam, up from 24 per cent the previous year.

Surfcontrol’s chief executive, Steve Purdham, said: "Whilst it is still early in our current financial year, based on the company’s performance to date, we remain confident and expect a successful outcome for the year,"

Surfcontrol reported record annual sales of 54.3m in July.