Platinum blames CA takeover for poor Q1

Platinum Technology's shares crashed last week following a poor set of first-quarter results, which it attributed to customer delays in placing orders until its takeover by Computer Associates (CA) is completed.

The software supplier saw revenue fall 12 per cent to $170.1 million - $50 million short of forecasts - on a net loss of $266 million or $2.64 per share. This compared with profit of $1.2 million or $0.01 per share in the same quarter last year. The First Call analysts' consensus had expected a loss of $0.11 per share.

But the first-quarter loss included a $136.3 million restructuring charge, merger costs of $23.7 million and other unspecified charges of $40.7 million.

Platinum refused to clarify what its earnings per share would have been without the charges. The firm's shares fell $1.50 to close at $24.125 on the announcement of the figures.

Platinum said its figures had been hit by its pending acquisition by CA and that licence sales fell to $70 million this quarter from about $98 million in the same period last year.