12/10 16:27 Oracle Corporation Reports Profits Up 46 Percent in Record Second
<ORCL.O> Oracle Corporation Reports Profits Up 46 Percent in Record Second Quarter Total Revenue Tops $2 Billion; EPS, $0.28
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., Dec. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Oracle Corporation
Nasdaq: ORCL) today announced record second quarter results for the period ended November 30, 1998. Revenues for the second quarter increased 27 percent (28 percent in local currencies) to $2.1 billion from $1.6 billion in the same period last year. Net income for the period increased 46 percent to $274 million, or $0.28 per share, compared to net income of $187 million, or $0.19 per share, in the same period last year.
Revenue from Oracle's two businesses, database and applications, totaled $8.0 billion in the last four quarters. The database business, including database, tools and related services, grew 25 percent to $1.5 billion in revenues for the quarter and $5.8 billion for the last four quarters, continuing its position as the largest database business in the world.
Revenues from the applications business and related services grew 35 percent to $578 million in revenues for the second fiscal quarter and $2.1 billion for the last four quarters, continuing Oracle's position as the second largest applications business in the world.
Product related revenues (license and support) in the second quarter grew by 25 percent versus the same period last year, led by strong growth in database products. Oracle's Education and Consulting services revenue increased 34 percent during the quarter, indicating continued strong demand for both businesses.
Oracle reported continued strong growth in Americas and EMEA (Europe,
Middle East and Africa) and significant improvement in Asia Pacific. Americas revenue was up 30 percent (31 percent in local currencies) in the second quarter versus the same period last year. EMEA was up 31 percent (29 percent in local currencies), versus the same period last year. Asia Pacific was up 7 percent in reported dollars (up 14 percent in local currencies) versus the same period last year, reflecting modest improvement in both economic conditions and currency impact in Asia Pacific.
"Our database revenue growth accelerated as Oracle has become the database of choice for Internet commerce," said Lawrence J. Ellison, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Nine of the top ten business-to-business e-commerce web sites use the Oracle database. Ten of the top ten consumer e-commerce web sites use the Oracle database. Virtually every big web site in the world uses Oracle because of Oracle's ability to handle large numbers of users and huge
amounts of data reliably, securely and economically."
"Release 11 of our applications, the only enterprise applications that are 100% accessible through an Internet browser, is now live at 21 customers including Oracle's own U.S. business and shipments to over 1,300 customers have been made to date," said Jeffrey O. Henley, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. "Oracle's Americas application license growth rebounded to 31% growth in its second quarter. This is a very encouraging trend particularly in light of the fact that historically, performance in the Americas has been a leading indicator of international adoption rates."
Oracle made a number of significant announcements during the quarter:
* Oracle8i was formally launched to more than 18,000 customers, partners, and developers at Oracle Open World on November 11, 1998. Oracle8i has been in beta testing at more than 200 customer and partner sites since August.
Oracle8i extends Oracle's proven technology leadership in the areas of
transaction processing, data warehousing, mobile computing and high
availability systems. Oracle8i is the centerpiece of Oracle's Internet
computing platform which also includes Oracle Application Server 4.0 and specialized development tools. This powerful combination of technologies will deliver scalable, reliable and cost effective computing to businesses.
* Oracle announced that hundreds of leading hardware vendors, independent software vendors (ISVs), and systems integrators (SIs) are delivering breakthrough applications and services based on Oracle8i, the world's only database for Internet computing. Together, Oracle and its partners are delivering products and services in virtually every major industry category that make Internet computing a reality.
* Collaborative Research survey revealed 69 percent of the world's top Web sites are using Oracle technology, and an impressive 70 percent of the remaining non-Oracle sites plan to evaluate Oracle products within the next six months.
* Oracle announced over 1,300 customers have been shipped Oracle Applications Release 11 since it became available in April. All of the more than 45 modules are web-enabled, allowing them to be deployed on corporate Intranets with no software other than a browser required on users' desktops.
This architecture allows companies to shift the complexity of application management, maintenance and upgrading from users' desktops onto centralized, professionally managed servers, thereby dramatically reducing the cost of deploying and administering software.
* Oracle announced Oracle Front Office Version 3.0, its latest version of front office applications that provides full call center functionality to enable sales, service and marketing capabilities, including the first mobile sales and service applications for the Palm Pilot, that are unmatched by competitive offerings. (ttf-sell SEBL)
* Oracle agreed to acquire Concentra Corporation, a leading configurator software provider, for $43 million in cash. This acquisition will give Oracle the industry's most powerful configurator engine which Oracle will use as a core technology for its electronic commerce, sales automation, and unassisted selling in manufacturing businesses ranging from simple assembly to complex engineer-to-order products.
* Oracle announced the successful closing of Versatility Inc., a leading vendor of computer telephony integration (CTI)-enabled customer interaction software, for $12 million in cash. This acquisition enhances our front office call center offering and continues our strategy of integrating powerful sales and marketing solutions with our ERP application suite.
* Oracle announced a pilot program for its Oracle Business OnLine hosting service for enterprise business applications. Business OnLine frees subscribing customers from having to worry about hardware and software upgrades, capacity planning, hiring of scarce IT personnel, or disaster recovery, as all such issues will be managed at the data center, transparently to customers. Subscribers will receive a flexible service that offers high availability and predictable costs, that can be expanded with their needs.
Oracle Corporation is the world's leading supplier of software for
information management, and the world's second largest independent software company. With annual revenues of over $8.0 billion, the company offers its database, tools and application products, along with related consulting,education, and support services, in more than 145 countries around the world.
For more information about Oracle, please call Oracle Investor Relations at 650-506-4073 or see Oracle's World Wide Web page: oracle.com.
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