Check Point Software Technologies Reports Another Record Quarter and Fiscal Year

Company announces a three-for-two stock split

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – January 18, 2001 – Check Point Software Technologies (Nasdaq: CHKP), the worldwide leader in securing the Internet, today announced record financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2000. 

Net income for Q4 2000 was $81.0 million or $0.46 per share (diluted), an increase of 172% and 171% over Q4 1999, respectively.  Both net income and EPS for Q4 2000 increased by 31% over the Company's Q3 2000 results.  Strong demand for Check Point products brought total revenues for Q4 2000 to $140.4 million, an increase of 107% over Q4 1999 and 21% higher than in Q3 2000.

Net income for the year was $221.2 million or $1.26 per share (diluted), compared to net income of $95.8 million or $0.58 per share (diluted) during fiscal year 1999.  This represents an increase of 131% and 117% in net income and EPS respectively.  Revenues for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2000 increased 94% to $425.3 million, as compared to $219.6 million for fiscal year 1999.

During Q4 2000 the company continued to generate cash, resulting in net cash flow of $113.3 million. Days Sales Outstanding (DSO) for Q4 2000 was 49 days, the lowest for 2000. Total cash and interest bearing investments were $656 million as of December 31, 2000.

"Demand for best-of-breed Internet security solutions remained strong last year, which is a continued acknowledgement of the importance of security as an essential piece of Internet business and infrastructure" said Gil Shwed, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Check Point Software Technologies.  "The industry has recognized Check Point's Secure Virtual Network (SVN) architecture as the platform of choice, and customers around the globe are turning to us for our world-class security solutions."

Mr. Shwed continued: "Our core enterprise business increased and remained strong, and we continued to see consistent sales growth through the managed service provider (MSP) channel, driven by a growing customer desire to outsource security management.  We saw continued growth in the security appliance sector, and we took the first step in building a strong security solution base for the rapidly growing small and medium business market."

Highlights from 2000 include:

• VPN and Firewall Market Leadership-- expanded clear market leadership, with 52% worldwide VPN solutions market share, according to Gartner Group and 41% worldwide firewall software market share, according to IDC.
• VPN Performance-- announced new levels of record-setting VPN performance through partnering with industry leaders such as Intel and Broadcom to develop and deliver multi-gigabit security solutions.
• eBusiness Security -- expanded Check Point's Secure Virtual Network (SVN) architecture with the introduction of SVN Phase II, which provides the first comprehensive Internet security infrastructure integrating network security with B2B applications.
• Check Point Everywhere-- executed on our vision of providing Check Point's solutions to new types of customers.  Expanded into small and enterprise branch office markets with the introduction of VPN-1/FireWall-1 SmallOffice, a comprehensive Internet security software solution that fully integrates into a variety of low-cost appliances.  Check Point's first partners to ship this integrated offering are Ramp Networks (acquired by Nokia) and Intrusion.com.   Also, strengthened our leadership with Nokia in the integrated VPN Appliance sector and announced the Check Point Certified Appliance Program with industry-leading partners IBM, Compaq, Alcatel, Alteon and others.
• Expanded Partnerships -- expanded the Open Platform for Security (OPSEC) program, adding over 70 new partners this year and bringing the total partners to 270.  Our partner alliance program also continued to grow by approximately 50% for the year bringing the total number of partners to over 1500.
• Managed Service Provider (MSP) Growth -- strengthened partnerships with leading telcos/MSPs.  Announced Provider-1 2000 security management solution for ISPs and SiteManager-1 SmallOffice, a product designed to significantly lower a service provider's cost of overall ownership and deployment for managed VPN and firewall services to small and medium businesses.
• Nasdaq 100 -- Check Point was recently added to the Nasdaq-100 Index, representing the largest domestic and international issues listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market.
  

• Industry Accolades  --Network Computing magazine awarded Check Point's FireWall-1 "Product of the Year".  Check Point was also named an "E-business 50" company by USA Today, and among "The Standard 100", an annual listing of the most important and influential companies of the Internet Economy, by The Industry Standard magazine.Additionally, Check Point FireWall-1 was named "One of the 10 Most Important Products of the Decade" by Network Computing magazine.

Check Point also announced today that the company's board of directors has approved a three-for-two stock split, to be effected in the form of a stock dividend.  The record date for the stock split is expected to be on February 1, 2001, payment date is expected to be on February 12, 2001, and post-split trading is expected to commence on February 13, 2001.

"In the past year we successfully strengthened our position as the leading Internet security provider, broadened our reach into new customer segments, and added premier industry partners," continued Mr. Shwed.  "Over the years, Check Point has introduced revolutionary technologies for Internet security.  In 2001, we intend to strengthen that by introducing and delivering the next generation of Internet security."

Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this press release, which are not purely historical, are forward-looking statements, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future.  Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties and actual results could differ materially from the company's current expectations.  Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: the impact on revenues of economic uncertainties and weaknesses in geographic regions of the world; the inclusion of network security functionality in third-party hardware or system software; any unforeseen developmental or technological difficulties with regard to our products; changes in the competitive landscape including new competitors and/or the impact of competitive pricing and products; timely availability and customer acceptance of new and existing products, and other factors and risks discussed in our Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 1999, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The company assumes no obligation to update information concerning its expectations.

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1999 Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Check Point, the Check Point logo, FireWall-1, FloodGate-1, INSPECT, IQ Engine, Meta IP, Open Security Extension, OPSEC, Provider-1, User-to-Address Mapping, VPN-1, VPN-1 Accelerator Card, VPN-1 Appliance, VPN-1 Certificate Manager, VPN-1 Gateway, VPN-1 SecuRemote, VPN-1 SecureServer, Secure Virtual Network and ConnectControl are trademarks or registered trademarks of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. or its affiliates. All other product names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The products described in this document are protected by U.S. Patent No. 5,606,668 and 5,835,726 and may be protected by other U.S. Patents, foreign patents, or pending applications.

CHECK POINT SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES LTD.
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
(In thousands, except per share amount)

CHECK POINT SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGIES LTD.
SELECTED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET DATA
(In thousands)

ASSETS

LIABILITIES AND
SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

Deferred revenues	$55,999		$121,202
Trade payables and other  accrued liabilities	45,213		105,988
Total current liabilities	101,212		227,190
Accrued severance pay	626		1,166
Share capital	234		482
Additional paid-in capital	67,230		102,544
Retained earnings	225,044		446,257
Total shareholders' equity	292,508		549,283
.	$394,346		$777,639