Database giant Oracle last night warned that profits would be off for its coming third quarter figures, blaming the sluggish US economy.
The world's second largest software maker said it now expected a 10 cents per share profit for the third quarter to the end of February, two cents per share below Wall Street predictions.
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said in a statement that companies were delaying purchases of the company's database software, which tracks information for large companies such as banks and airlines.
Computer maker Gateway, telecommunications equipment firm 3Com and other Silicon Valley companies have also been warning of lower than expected performances due to a general economic slowdown.
Meanwhile, German business software giant SAP said today it was sticking by its forecasts for better earnings and sales for the current quarter.
A company spokesman said it was standing by the forecast it had made at the end of January of a 'sharp rise' in net profit during the first three months of 2001.
