– The company has announced the purchase of its franchises in Sweden, Finland and the United Kingdom. It has now bought seven franchises since the entry of Investindustrial and other partners in its share capital in 2007

– It has also set up new companies in Japan and China, taking over operations previously run by local distributors

– Other projects organized under the umbrella of an aggressive investment plan have enabled the company to maintain its position as a global technology leader and consolidate its international expansion

– The company forecasts a 10% increase in its workforce in Spain in 2009, arising from continued investment in R&D&i in Madrid and Bilbao. New staff will be concentrated mainly in the technical and sales areas
 

Madrid, June 23, 2009 – Panda Security, The Cloud Security Company, has bought 100 percent of its Swedish, Finnish and UK franchises, furthering the aggressive investment plan started in 2007 with a view to consolidating the internationalization of the company. In the last two years, existing franchises in Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Japan and China have been similarly bought and integrated as subsidiaries in the Panda Group. These recent acquisitions, in addition to existing subsidiaries in the USA, Spain and France, bring the current total up to 12. Over the next few weeks, Panda is expected to buy a company in China and make further investment in Asia.

The company now has franchises in 44 countries, bringing its total number of local offices to 56. This new investment is in line with the strategic plan established after the entry into the company’s share capital of a group of investment funds led by Investindustrial in 2007. The new shareholders embarked on an ambitious internationalization plan, and resolved to increase market share in countries where the company had been operating for some time with limited market penetration.

The strategic plan emphasized investments in international expansion and infrastructure, allowing Panda to exploit the full potential of its technology, in particular Collective Intelligence, which analyzes, classifies and disinfects malware automatically, processing samples in just six minutes, and leveraging this knowledge to protect all Panda users in real-time.

This technology has allowed Panda to consolidate its position as a global leader in technology, launching the first cloud-based antivirus with a minimal impact on computers (www.cloudantivirus.com).

“Thanks to our new shareholders, led by Investindustrial, we are in a comfortable position to meet present challenges, brought about not just by the economic crisis but also by the increased competition in the security market. After 20 years of success, we are now at a point where we can make the investments we need, which makes us highly competitive both on the corporate and consumer markets and from a technological and product-centered point of view. We also have a highly scalable business model that gives us the flexibility to grow”, says Juan Santana, CEO of Panda Security.

Similarly, against a background of economic recession and widespread cost cutting, Panda Security is growing internationally in terms of revenue and the number of clients. It has increased its annual marketing budget by 30 percent and plans to increase its workforce by 10 percent (excluding takeovers). So far 40 new employees have been taken on, and another 45 are forecast for the rest of the year.

“We plan to continue this type of investment over the next few years and continue growing with a view to flotation on the stock market in 3 to 5 years”, concludes Santana.