Rising database sales were the bread and butter behind Oracle’s fiscal
fourth quarter profit, but the PeopleSoft division also played a key role in
the company’s results.
Net income for the quarter ending May 31 was $1.02 billion, or 20 cents
per share, a 32 percent increase over the year-ago period.
Total revenues were $3.88 billion, up 26 percent over the $3.08 billion it
took in last year, while it was still chasing the hostile bid for enterprise
software provider PeopleSoft.
The results cleared a number of consensus expectations by analysts and
financial services firms that tally estimates on earnings.
Sales of new software licenses told the story — even with the weaker
dollar factored in to the results. During the quarter, Oracle’s fiscal
fourth quarter of 2005, new license sales rose 23 percent to $1.61 billion
from the $1.31 billion it took in during the same year-ago period.
Company officials credited the swift integration of PeopleSoft within
Oracle’s operations. The quarter represented the first time that
PeopleSoft’s contributions to the bottom line were fully represented.
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison touted recent database research reports from
Gartner, IDC and Morgan Stanley that said Oracle was increasing its share of
the database market.
“This quarter marks an acceleration of that
trend as more and more companies move their database applications off
mainframes onto Oracle grids.”
Safra Catz, president of Oracle, said the rapid integration of PeopleSoft
into the company’s business contributed to the strong growth in both applications sales and profits.
“The combination of increased organic growth plus a
carefully targeted acquisition strategy have pushed Oracle’s revenue and
profits to record levels.”
The results should help Catz smooth the transition for new finance chief
Gregory Maffei, a former finance executive for Microsoft hired to replace Harry
You, who left in March. Catz had stepped into the role temporarily.
