On May 31, Novell had both good and bad news for its investors as it announced a net profit of $3 million, or $0.01 per diluted common share, for its second fiscal quarter that ended April 30, 2006.
Although Novell reported that fiscal second quarter revenue had declined year-over-year, from $297 million in the second quarter of 2005 to $278 in the second quarter of 2006, net income for the quarter rose. In the second quarter of 2005, the company had reported a net loss to common stockholders of $16 million, or $0.04 loss per diluted common share.
The reported revenue was also a small jump over the prior quarter, which ended Jan. 31, 2006. At that time, Novell reported revenue of $274 million, compared to revenue of $290 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2005.
During the most recent quarter, Novell reported total Open Platform Solutions revenue of $57 million, which was up from $20 million in the same quarter of fiscal 2005. Total Open Platform Solutions revenue included $46 million from sales of Open Enterprise Server, Novells Linux replacement for NetWare, and $10 million from Linux Platform Products, up 20 percent year-over-year.