Good news for all:
OTTAWA -(Dow Jones)- Corel Corp. Tuesday reported strong initial
sales for its WordPerfect Suite 8, which it started shipping last week.
Word of its solid sales performance came one day after the company
posted a net loss of $105.7 million, or $1.76 a share, on revenue of
$100.4 million in the second quarter ended May 31. The loss included a
write-down of $113.7 million of purchased software and other assets.
Michael Cowpland, Corel's president and chief executive, said in a
conference call with securities analysts and reporters that initial
reports indicate that unit sales of WordPerfect Suite 8 - which
incorporates a range of business software applications - are running 30%
higher than initial sales last year of WordPerfect Suite 7.
"The other good news is that we have put up the price of Suite 8 by
50%. So we are getting greatly increased revenues," Cowpland said.
Corel, which intends to offer Suite 8 in 10 languages, is marketing
the product at a suggested retail price of $395.
Cowpland said Corel's line of graphics software products continues to
show strong sales. He said the company has about 80% of the graphics
software market. The CEO said the latest version of its graphics
software, CorelDRAW 8, is on track for market introduction in the
October-November period.
The executive said Corel's recently formed subsidiary, Corel Computer
Corp., is developing what appears to be the "the fastest and most
feature rich network computer available anywhere."
Charles Norris, chief financial officer, estimated that the
write-down will have a favorable impact on earnings per share in future
quarters of about 8 cents.
Norris said productivity applications accounted for 72% of
second-quarter sales, graphics software 27% and multimedia 1%.
Copyright (c) 1997 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Happy Investing!
Vanni |
