Friday, May 30, 2008

Novell Reports Financial Results for Second Fiscal Quarter 2008

By Mass High Tech Staff

Novell Inc. has moved back into the black, according to financial statements from the software company, for its second fiscal quarter, which ended April 30, 2008.

Waltham-based Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL)  reported net revenue of $236 million for Q2, compared to net revenue of $232 million for the same quarter in 2007. Income for the second fiscal quarter 2008, however, was nearly $6 million, as opposed to a loss from continuing operations of $1 million for Q2 2007.

Income from continuing operations in the second fiscal quarter 2008 was $6 million, or $0.02 per share. This compares to a loss from continuing operations of $1 million, or $0.00 loss per share, for the second fiscal quarter 2007. Foreign currency exchange rates favorably impacted revenue by $8 million, unfavorably impacted operating expenses by $9 million and negatively impacted income from operations by $1 million year-over-year.

In this most recent quarter, Novell reported $30 million of product revenue from open platform solutions, of which $29 million was from Linux platform products — up 31 percent over Q2 2007. Identity and security management products brought in $31 million, up 13 percent year-over-year, and product revenue from systems and resource management was $41 million, up 15 percent year-over-year. Workgroup product revenue was the only downturn, with $92 million, down 1 percent from Q2 2007.

In March, Novell agreed to buy PlateSpin Ltd., a Toronto-based maker of server-virtualization software, for $205 million.

For 2007, Novell reported a loss of $44.5 million, while bringing in revenue of $932.5 million.