Informix claws back sales after '98 crash

Database supplier exceeds Wall Street expectations, but admits there's still work to do.

Informix has beaten Wall Street expectations for its fourth fiscalre's still work to do. quarter, although the company admitted it still had plenty to achieve, particularly in the revenue generation sector.

The database supplier is still trying to recover from its financial crash of about 18 months ago when it revealed a string of accounting irregularities and was threatened with delisting from Nasdaq.

But for its fourth quarter ended 31 December 1998, Informix saw sales increase 18 per cent to $214.6 million. Net profit, not including a $2.6 million charge related to the acquisition of Red Brick Systems, was $25.5 million compared with the company's earnings of $7.3 million last time. After the charge, net income stood at $22.9 million.

Howard Bain, chief financial officer at Informix, who was recently recruited from Symantec, said: 'We have made tremendous progress, but we recognise that we've still got a lot to do. Our number one priority is to improve the top line and keep our expenses under control.'

He continued: 'The market challenges are intensely competitive, especially since Microsoft's entry into the market with SQL Server, even though we intend to be at the high end. However, Microsoft's entry has a certain risk. Oracle will also continue to market its products aggressively and the year 2000 problem is a risk for all companies.'

Bain added: 'There is also a risk associated with the Red Brick acquisition and we expect some disruption in sales.'

The firm witnessed growth across its product line and across all geographies.

North American sales rose 33 per cent to $103.7 million, although turnover elsewhere was less robust.

European revenue grew nine per cent to $72.2 million, Latin American sales were up 10 per cent to $18.1 million, while Asia Pacific's turnover increased only slightly to $20.6 million.

Licence sales increased 12 per cent to $117.8 million from the same quarter a year ago, while services revenue grew 27 per cent.