PROGRESS SOFTWARE CORPORATION REPORTS FIRST QUARTER FINANCIAL RESULTS
Range of Tools, Services and Application Partner Offerings Contribute To Record Revenue of $54.1 Million
Bedford, Mass., March 18, 1998 - Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS) today announced results for its first quarter ended February 28, 1998. Revenue for the quarter increased by 19% to a record $54,146,000, up from $45,344,000 in the same quarter last year. Operating income for the first quarter of 1998 increased by 122% to $4,868,000, up from $2,196,000 in the same quarter last year. Net income was $3,547,000, up from $1,978,000 in the first quarter of
1997. Diluted earnings per share of $0.29 represented an increase of 93% over the $0.15 achieved in the first quarter of fiscal 1997.
During the first quarter, Progress Software purchased 496,615 shares of its stock at a cost of $10,129,000. The company's cash and short-term investments at the end of the first quarter totaled $87,660,000. The company's accounts receivable days sales outstanding was 55 days at the end of the first quarter of 1998, as compared to 59 days a year ago.
The company's revenue in the first quarter was adversely affected by the strengthening of the U.S. dollar during 1998 as compared to 1997. On a constant currency basis, revenue in the first quarter of 1998 grew by 25% as compared to the first quarter of 1997. On a constant currency basis, license revenue increased by 18% in the first quarter of 1998 as compared to the first quarter of fiscal 1997.
In the Quarter
On Feb. 2 Progress Software announced its 1998 product development plans, which include a series of new products and product enhancements based on a Universal Application Architecture (UAA) model that enables business applications to efficiently interoperate within a standards-based architecture. These initiatives are designed to serve two constituencies: organizations that want to immediately take advantage of the development and deployment benefits of the Java programming language in implementing business applications; and existing customers seeking to migrate applications, built with the PROGRESSr and WebSpeedT products, to a UAA model over time.
"These new product initiatives further strengthen the company's position in the rapidly growing market for Java-based business application development tools," said Joseph Alsop, founder and president of Progress Software. "They also 'future proof' existing PROGRESS solutions in use by organizations today by providing a migration path to the component-based application development and
deployment paradigm. As Progress Software moves into the second quarter of 1998, our focus on standards-based solutions and Java will enable us to attract new customers while helping our existing customers to bring their applications into the Internet age."
In January, PowerCerv, a leading enterprise application software and services solutions provider, joined the Apptivity Partner Program, a newly-established reseller program designed to promote sales of the Apptivity product line. PowerCerv's decision to join the Partner Program followed an extensive comparative evaluation of major Java business development tools. The company selected Apptivity due to its superior capabilities in developing scalable enterprise transactional applications. Other newly-signed Apptivity Partners include DBSoft, TKI, ProLogic Management Systems Inc. and Component Software Norge AS.
Also in the quarter, Progress Software Application Partners Symix Systems, Inc. and QAD Inc. were named exclusively in the Gartner Group's leaders' quadrant for the North American Enterprise Resource Planning mid-market. This thriving market, which grew more than 35% to $2.1 billion in 1997, is expected to continue its rapid growth over the next several years. Symix and QAD, along with other Progress Software Application Partners, are strongly positioned to profit
from this expanding market. |
