by millionairemind » Fri Mar 26, 2010 8:14 pm
Mar 26, 2010
Oracle profit slips
SAN FRANCISCO - ORACLE Corp.'s profit fell 10.5 per cent in the latest quarter as the business software maker absorbed Sun Microsystems and its expenses for building and supporting computer servers.
Still, Oracle's profit edged past Wall Street's estimates and its revenue from new software licenses ratcheted higher for the second quarter in a row. That is an encouraging sign that big companies are steadily increasing their spending on new technology projects.
New licenses are key for Oracle, the world's No. 1 maker of database software, because customers often lock into technical-support contracts that fuel Oracle's growth for years down the road. Oracle gets more than half its total revenue from those contracts.
Oracle said after the market closed on Thursday that its net income was US$1.2 billion (S$1.69 billion), or 23 US cents per share, in the three months ended Feb 28. That compares with US$1.3 billion, or 26 US cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue jumped 17 per cent to US$6.4 billion. Excluding one-time items, the company earned 38 US cents per share. On that basis, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected Oracle to earn 37 US cents per share, on US$6.3 billion in revenue.
The latest numbers include about a month of contributions from Sun Microsystems, the struggling server and software maker that Oracle bought for US$7.4 billion as part of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's push to more deeply challenge rival IBM Corp. The deal was completed in January after months of wrangling in Europe over whether the deal would violate antitrust laws. Oracle said that without Sun its revenue would have risen 7 per cent. Oracle also said it expects Sun to make a 'significant contribution' to its profit in the current quarter.
Oracle's revenue from new software licenses rose 10 per cent, excluding Sun. The company had predicted it would rise as much as 9 per cent. The September-November quarter, which Oracle reported in December, marked the first time in a year that figure had risen. -- AP
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