VMware tops expectations with stellar second quarter

Firm says it is bullish on channel enablement as revenue and net income rise annually in the double digits

VMware has topped Wall Street expectations in its second quarter as both its sales and net income enjoyed double-digit growth compared to last year's Q2.

For the three months to 30 June, net income for VMware rocketed year on year by more than a quarter – 28 per cent – to $244.1m (£158.8m). Sales for Q2 jumped 11 per cent to $1.24bn over the same period, ahead of analyst expectations of $1.23bn.

Licence revenue crept up annually by three per cent to $530.5m in the quarter, while services revenue enjoyed an 18 per cent boost to $712.6m.

VMware pumped five per cent more cash into R&D than it did a year ago, taking the total to $260.7m, while its sales and marketing spend shot up 13 per cent to $442.1m over the same period.

Bookings across all global regions were in line with or above expectations, claimed the vendor. Excluding divestitures – including its Zimbra email business – EMEA bookings grew annually in the mid teens, behind the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions which grew by 20 per cent and 40 per cent respectively over the same period.

VMware's president Carl Eschenbach said the firm's strategy to strengthen its channel is going well.

"How are we transitioning, transforming, re-evolving our sales force and our channel to sell more solution-oriented products into the market? I'd say it is going actually quite well," he said on a conference call transcribed by Seeking Alpha.

"We have put in place a large enablement plan both for our own sales force and the channel. And an indication of that is last quarter we brought our top partners from around the world together and did nothing but spend time talking to them about how to sell the vCloud Suite and specifically sell the software-defined datacentre component.

"So, I am bullish on the fact that we are enabling our direct sales force and our channel to be more skilled at selling the complete solution that we have associated with the vCloud Suite."

For the first half of its fiscal year, VMware's sales hit the $2.4bn mark – up 12 per cent annually – while net income for the first two quarters rose nine per cent to $417.7m. The firm's chief executive Pat Gelsinger said Q2's results were a strong finish to a solid first half for VMware.

The firm expects its Q3 revenue to reach somewhere between $1.27bn and $1.3bn.