Borland Sees Drop in Q1 Net Income

Despite generating a 10 percent increase in revenue, Borland Software Corp. saw its first quarter net income drop 21 percent.

The development tools maker posted net income of $4.6 million for its first quarter ended March 31, compared with net income of $5.9 million for the same period a year ago.

However, for the first quarter, the Scotts Valley, Calif., companys revenues increased to $57.1 million, up from $51.7 million for the first quarter of last year. And the companys license revenues grew 12 percent to $47.7 million from $42.4 million a year ago.

Borland also announced net income of $5.8 million for the most recent quarter, compared with $6.2 million for the same period last year, which officials said was in line with company estimates.

“Were growing revenues year over year, and our balance sheet is strong,” said Fred Ball, Borlands chief financial officer.

“This reflects that even in a tough economy people buy software development products,” said President and CEO Dale Fuller.

Fuller said Borlands Java products have been one of the stronger pieces of its earnings mix. During the quarter, Borlands Java business increased 40 percent over the same time last year, representing 38 percent of the most recent quarters revenues.

Java was followed by Borland products for Linux, Web services, and mobile and wireless application development tools, Fuller said.

He also noted that Microsofts push to .Net is a strategic direction for Borland, but said the company is committed to supporting its customers who have not yet moved to the .Net platform. Given that, Fuller said Borlands growth with .Net will be a transitional one through the second half of this year.

The company said it expects revenues to increase about 2 percent, to 8 percent, in the second quarter of 2002 compared with the second quarter of 2001. The company also said it anticipates 2002 annual revenues to grow 5 percent—to 15 percent—over 2001 revenue.

Borlands most recent quarter includes $1.5 million in expenses related to acquisitions Borland made to beef up its tools offerings.