Oh, no - the negative flood is starting "Novell also said its new worldwide sales chief had resigned after less than two weeks on the job"
Run for the hills, the cattle are dying!!!
nytimes.com
<<Novell Earnings Fall in Latest Quarter
Filed at 5:23 p.m. ET
By Reuters
PROVO, Utah (Reuters) - Novell Inc.(NOVL.O) on Tuesday reported fiscal second-quarter results that came in just above diminished expectations as the business management software company struggled with sales force problems.
Novell also said its new worldwide sales chief had resigned after less than two weeks on the job, and that the company was being reorganized to more closely follow product and customer lines.
Provo, Utah-based Novell said its net income fell to $31 million, or 9 cents a share on a diluted basis, in its fiscal second quarter ended April 30, from $38.7 million, or 11 cents a share, a year earlier.
Excluding a one-time $35 million royalty from Caldera Inc., which contributed 7 cents a share to earnings, Novell's earnings were 2 cents a share. Wall Street analysts had expected the company to post earnings of 1 cent a share.
Revenues fell to $302 million from $316 million.
Novell said former Lucent Corp. executive Nicholas Tiliacos, who joined the company May 10 as senior vice president, worldwide sales, had resigned for personal reasons. The company was not immediately available to comment further.
Novell said it named Rich Nortz to replace Tiliacos. Most recently, Nortz served as senior vice president Novell Customer Services.
Novell had warned on May 2 that second-quarter profits would be much lower than Wall Street was expectations due to a stumbling sales force, as well as stepped-up competition from Microsoft Corp.(MSFT.O) with its recent release of Windows 2000 and the surging popularity of the Linux operating system.
At the time, Novell said it expected to report revenue of just over $300 million and earnings of about 8 cents a share, including the $35 million royalty payment from Caldera, most of which related to an antitrust settlement between Caldera and Microsoft Corp.
The warning was a harsh interruption in what had been a comeback for the once-struggling company, which was decimated by the introduction of Windows years ago. Novell, with its Netware software, was once the biggest maker of software to run and manage networks of IBM-compatible personal computers.
That warning sent Novell stock plunging nearly 40 percent the next day to about $10.
Novell stock rose 13/16 on Tuesday to 9-3/4 on Nasdaq. The company released the results after the close of regular U.S. trading.
On Tuesday, Novell said it was reorganizing itself into four business groups, each of which will have its own strategic focus and strategy.
``Our customers are at different stages in deploying their Internet strategies, and we recognize the need to focus our efforts around making the Net work for them regardless of where they are in that implementation,'' Novell Chairman Eric Schmidt said in a statement.
Novell also said it named Dave Shirk, who most recently was senior vice president, Product Management, to fill the vacant post of chief technology officer.>>
Morgan |
