Red Hat moves up on corporate subscriptions

SEATTLE: Red Hat Inc., a leading distributor of Linux software, reported on Thursday that its quarterly profit more than doubled on increased revenue for software subscriptions to corporate customers.

The company, which provides update and support services for Linux, said it had a net profit of $11.8 million, or 6 cents per share, in its fiscal fourth quarter ended Feb. 28, compared with a profit of $4.8 million, or 3 cents, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 56.6 percent to $57.5 million from $36.7 million.

Red Hat, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, also said its board approved an expansion to the company's share repurchase program and authorized buybacks of up to $250 million. Red Hat said it had repurchased about $100 million of that amount under a previous plan.

Red Hat's board also approved a repurchase of up to $50 million of the company's 0.5 percent convertible debt.

Both programs would be funded out of working capital, Red Hat said in a statement.

Strong momentum in the market for Linux software and healthy demand among large businesses helped fuel Red Hat's results for the latest fiscal quarter, said Red Hat Chief Financial Officer Charlie Peters.

For the full fiscal year just ended, Red Hat said it had a profit of $45.4 million, or 24 cents per share, up from $13.7 million, or 7 cents per share, a year earlier.

Full fiscal year revenue rose to $196.5 million from $124.7 million.