Oracle sees negative Q3 license growth in Americas

NEW YORK: Oracle Corp., the world's No. 2 software maker, on Wednesday said

it saw license revenue generated from the Americas shrink 4 per cent, thanks to

the dotcom collapse and the slowing US economy.

For the quarter, the company said license revenues generated from companies

in the Americas, which comprise more than half its quarterly license revenues,

were less than in the same quarter a year earlier as growth was a negative 4 per

cent. That's far from the 34 per cent growth the company saw in each of the

pervious two quarters, chief financial officer Jeffrey Henley told analysts in a

conference call.

Part of the problem came from licenses generated by dotcom companies, which

were off year-over-year by 66 per cent. However, excluding the dotcoms, license

revenue growth from the Americas would have been only 9 per cent, Henley said.

"In hindsight, the dotcoms ended up a little worse than we

thought," he said. "What we didn't realize was the economy. We knew

the dotcoms would have an effect, but clearly it was the economy that did us

in." Henley said the crack first appeared in the four days of the quarter

as "contract after contract slipped as a result of key executives delaying

decisions to sign the deals when they were presented for final signature."

For the third quarter ended February, Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Oracle

said it earned $583 million, or 10 cents a share, down from $503 million, or 8

cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. On March 1, the company warned its

profits would be 10 cents per share, instead of the 12 cents a share analysts

had expected.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.