Novell reports $.13 a share
Revenue of $316 Million and Earnings of $0.13 Per Share
PROVO, Utah, Feb. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq:NOVL) today reported revenue of $316 million for its first fiscal
quarter ended Jan. 31, 2000, an 11 percent increase over the $286 million recorded in the first quarter of fiscal 1999. Net income
was $45 million in the quarter, up 55 percent from $29 million in the prior year. Earnings on a diluted basis were $0.13 per share,
compared with $0.08 in the year-earlier period.
Novell(R) tightly managed expenses during the first fiscal quarter, which is seasonally the
company's weakest revenue quarter. Total operating expenses declined by $5 million from the
fourth fiscal quarter 1999. The operating margin for the first fiscal quarter was 15 percent.
Revenue from directory-enabled NetWare(R) server software totaled $154 million in the first quarter,
up 6 percent from the first quarter of 1999. Directory-enabled Net services applications grew 10
percent to $80 million. Service, training and consulting revenue increased 37 percent to $50
million. Older pre-directory products were up 4 percent to $32 million. On a geographic basis,
United States revenue was $166 million in the first quarter, up 6 percent year-over-year. The
Europe, Middle East, and Africa region increased 6 percent to $99 million. In the Asia Pacific
region, revenue of $27 million was up 22 percent. Revenue in the Americas region outside the U.S.
increased 72 percent to $25 million. Strong revenue performance in November and December was
followed by a slowdown in January purchases as customers transitioned to the new year.
"During the first quarter, the delivery of NDS(R) eDirectory(TM) established the necessary
foundation for an entire category of new Net services products from Novell." said Dr. Eric Schmidt,
Novell chairman and chief executive officer. "These new products will significantly advance
e-business which is at the center of Novell's efforts in FY2000. Notably, multi-million object
deployments of eDirectory by CNN and Alta Vista during the quarter marked Novell's initial foray
into the market space defined by Internet content providers."
In addition to NDS eDirectory, Novell shipped seven important new products in the quarter including NetWare 5.1 and the Novell
Internet Messaging System(TM). The company expanded the number of OEMs licensed to ship its Internet Caching System(TM)
(ICS) to 11, the most recent agreement with Fujitsu Siemens. Novell has created the largest OEM and sales channel for caching
and content management. Compaq and Dell, the first OEMs with shipping ICS-based products have begun to gain noteworthy
customers including AT&T, Datek Online, Teliscan, Sara Lee and Perot Systems.
On the balance sheet, cash and short-term investments were $948 million at the end of the first quarter, compared with $895
million at the Oct. 1999 fiscal year-end. In addition to the $45 million of net income, collections on receivables, and a refund
associated with the tax settlement reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 1999, led to very strong cash flow from operations of
$141 million. Days sales outstanding of trade receivables was 68 days, down from 75 days at the end of fiscal 1999. Deferred
revenue primarily from maintenance associated with Novell's site-license business increased to $181 million up 31 percent from
year-over-year.
During the quarter, the company spent $89 million to repurchase 3.7 million shares of Novell common stock. On Aug. 19, 1999
the Novell board of directors authorized up to $500 million for a share repurchase program through Oct. 31, 2000. Over the two
fiscal periods since this authorization, the company has spent $288 million to purchase and retire 13 million shares of common
stock. |
