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Technology Stocks : The New QLogic (ANCR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John E. Mansfield who wrote (11725)	10/23/1997 4:27:00 PM
From: Nine_USA	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29386

Sequent Reports Record Third-Quarter Revenue and Earnings Business Wire - October 23, 1997 16:00 BEAVERTON, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 23, 1997--Sequent Computer Systems, the world's leading developer of highly-scalable, Intel-based NUMA (non-uniform memory access) systems for the data center, today announced solid financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 1997, ended October 4. Revenue of $207.3 million, the highest third-quarter revenue and the second-highest quarterly revenue in the company's history, was up 39 percent from $148.8 million in the third quarter a year ago. Net income of $10.3 million was nearly eight times net income for the third quarter of 1996, reflecting the company's largest quarterly pre-tax profit and its strongest third-quarter earnings performance to date. John McAdam, Sequent president and chief operating officer, acknowledged that the quarter's results were particularly strong relative to last year, when the company was just beginning a major product transition and investing heavily in new sales and professional services infrastructure. Nevertheless, he pointed out that it was precisely those investments and the success of NUMA-Q(tm) 2000 that enabled Sequent to achieve solid revenue and earnings growth in a quarter where normal seasonal slowness was compounded by general weakness in technology markets. "The quarter was essentially in line with our expectations," McAdam said. "Historically, Sequent has had a pattern of very strong second and fourth quarters punctuated by relatively soft first and third quarters. During the quarter just ended, American Operations actually performed better than we expected. However, that was offset by seasonal weakness in Europe, which was worse than normal and was aggravated by foreign currency issues. In the wake of this disappointment, we're encouraged by several large European opportunities in the strong fourth-quarter pipeline we've been building across all geographies." Among the most encouraging signs in the third quarter, McAdam pointed to strong growth in sales of NUMA-Q systems. "For the third consecutive quarter we saw a major increase in demand for NUMA-Q 2000, which accounted for three-fourths of product revenue in the third quarter. With the delivery of Fibre Channel in late September, NUMA-Q now has all the functionality and performance characteristics necessary to challenge the traditional dominance of mainframes in the data center. Just as important, Sequent's professional services consultants are equipped with the data center knowledge and experience necessary to carry that challenge through to the completion of successful projects for our customers." During the third quarter, the combined strength of the company's product and service offerings enabled Sequent to win numerous large projects against stiff competition. In addition to major new account wins at Oxford Health Plans, ICG Communications, The Coleman Company, and Carlson Hospitality Corporation, the company won multi-million-dollar projects from several existing customers, including Eckerd Corporation, the U.S. Department of Labor, State Insurance of New Zealand, UK Employment Services and the Bank of China. According to McAdam, the number and size of the company's major account wins are the best evidence that Sequent is beginning to reap the benefits of last year's investments and is on track to achieve its long-term growth targets. About Sequent Computer Systems, Inc. Sequent is a leading provider of high-end scalable data-center-ready open systems solutions for large organizations spanning diverse industries. In 1996, Sequent was first to market with large-scale cache coherent non-uniform memory access systems based on Intel's Pentium Pro architecture and designed to run the UNIX operating system. The Company's products are used primarily as database servers for large on-line transaction processing and decision support data warehousing applications built with relational database management system software. Sequent sells its products and services worldwide through its direct sales force, through distributors and; increasingly, through arrangements with systems integrators. For further information, phone Sequent at 503/626-5700 or 800/257-9044, or visit our World Wide Web site at sequent.com . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended Oct. 4 Sept. 28 Oct. 4 Sept. 28 1997 1996 1997 1996 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenue/a $207,320 $148,785 $575,347 $412,117 Net income/a $ 10,298 $ 1,355 $ 19,603 $ 5,259 Net income/share $ 0.24 $ 0.04 $ 0.50 $ 0.16 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (a) Amounts in Thousands