CAPE TOWN — PeopleSoft has announced record financial results for the first quarter (Q1) ended March 31, 2001 but announced earlier this week that are looking for a buyer of their South African subsidiary.
PeopleSoft’s total revenue increased 34 percent over the first quarter of last year to US$503 million. This is the highest revenue in the company’s history and the fourth consecutive record quarter for the “pure Internet” applications vendor.
Q1 license revenue for their collaborative enterprise applications are 70% higher than 2000 Q1 results, to US$153 million. Service revenue rose 22%, to US$153 million, while net income from recurring operations rose 229%, from US$11 million to US$36 million.
Cash and investments stood at US$1.155 billion at March 31.
This good news didn’t stop PeopleSoft SA MD Jan Coetzee from resigning, however, a move that coincided with announcements that PeopleSoft is in final negotiation for a potential buyer of the South African subsidiary.
Abigail Brooks, Customer Services Manager of PeopleSoft SA, refused to disclose details. She stated that PeopleSoft is moving towards a distributor-based model in SA.
“This should not be interpreted as disinvestments from SA,” says Brooks in reports. “We have a strong and loyal customer base and the PeopleSoft set of products has huge potential in SA. We remain fully committed to SA, but we feel the interests of customers can best be served by a local company.”
In a letter distributed to customers, PeopleSoft stated that:
It will maintain PeopleSoft staff with the local company to act as a link with the PeopleSoft Global network.
It will maintain open access to global support resources for customers
It will remain committed to PeopleSoft HRMS 8 (a PeopleSoft product) localizations planned for this year
It will appoint a member of the PeopleSoft senior management to the board of the local distributor
