Unix and NT growth powers Oracle profit

Rapid growth in the Unix and Windows NT relational database markets has boosted Oracle's latest annual financial results.

For the financial year ended 31 May, the company reported an increase of 35 per cent in net profit to $1.3 billion and a 24 per cent rise in revenue to $8.8 billion.

This compared with net profit of $955 million and revenue of $7.1 billion for 1998.

For the fourth quarter, revenue increased 22 per cent to $2.9 billion from $2.4 billion in the same period last year. Net income rose 31 per cent to $527 million.

The vendor claimed software licence revenue grew 22 per cent year-on-year. Database software sales increased 25 per cent, applications software sales rose 28 per cent, while service revenue grew 22 per cent.

Larry Ellison, chief executive of Oracle, said growth in the Unix and NT relational database market boosted sales: 'These are the operating systems that power the internet. This is the growth segment of the market,' he said.

Ellison continued: 'Oracle's applications software licence growth rate is good when you consider that the year 2000 is just around the corner and that every other ERP vendor - SAP, Peoplesoft, Baan and JD Edwards - has reported declines in software sales in its most recent quarter.'

Jeffrey O'Henley, chief financial officer of Oracle said he expected the growth to continue: 'We have shown four consecutive quarters of consistent margin improvement. This kind of margin expansion over the next couple of years will be possible through continued productivity gains, as we transform our business to an e-business.'