PeopleSoft sees strong Asian sales continuing

Jennifer Tan

SINGAPORE: Leading e-business software maker PeopleSoft Inc said on Monday
that it expects the 45 per cent growth seen in its Asian revenues for the first
quarter to be sustained for the rest of the year. PeopleSoft's (international
operations) executive vice president Guy Dubois, told Reuters in an interview,
that sales of its e-business software in the Asia Pacific region were expected
to grow faster than its other markets.

"Our pipeline of projects in Asia is very strong and is continuing to
get stronger, so we believe this growth rate can be sustained. In this tough
environment of an economic slowdown, we are already doing better than others,
and with a better economy, we can deliver more and be even better," he
said.

The California-based PeopleSoft last month posted a net income of $36.06
million for the quarter ended March 31 which beat Wall Street estimates. Dubois
said Asia's sales growth was driven by factors such as the de-regulation of the
telecommunication and banking industries in a number of countries in the region.

"A lot of governments are developing programs aimed at more
transparency, deregulation of telecom and banking sectors, and privatisation of
state-owned companies." PeopleSoft hopes to derive 50 per cent of its
revenues from markets outside the United States in the next two years, with the
remainder coming from the US market, Dubois said.

Currently, markets outside the United States account for over 35 per cent of
PeopleSoft's total sales, while Asia Pacific contributes 15 percent to group
revenues. "The Asia Pacific region, which is growing at a faster rate than
the US, contribute more and more to revenue growth for the group," he said.

PeopleSoft is currently targeting the markets of Hong Kong, Taiwan, China,
South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Philippines, he added.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.