US software giant Oracle has reported a 23.27% plunge in net profit for the three months ending May 31 as sales tumbled.
Net profit dropped to $655.9 million, or 12 cents a share, in the quarter from $854.89 million, or 15 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier. Sales tumbled 15.7% to $2.77 billion, the group said in a statement.
Oracle defended its perfomance in a harsh business climate, stressing that it had managed to widen its operating profit margin to 44% from 39% a year earlier.
'The true test of a management team is how well it performs in tough times,' said Oracle chief financial officer Jeff Henley. 'During the worst technology recession I have seen in more than 20 years, Oracle's operating income margins increased to record levels. This management team proved it can preserve profits even when times are tough,' he said in a statement.
Analysts had expected the corporate software giant to post earnings per share of 12 cents with sales of $2.547 billion. Stock markets across Europe had been waiting nervously for the Oracle results.
Some experts had been gloomy about Oracle's struggles with a growing political scandal over California's purchase of database software and alleged ties to donations to Governor Gray Davis.
Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison said the company's database business was strong. 'Database is the foundation of our software business and our database market position has never been stronger,' he said in a statement.
Ellison cited a survey that said Oracle's database was used for the large bulk of applications among Fortune 100 companies and that Oracle was the first choice for users for future development. 'With this huge lead in usage intentions, the Oracle database should continue to gain market share in the years to come,' he said.
For the full 12 months to May 31, net profit dropped 13.16% to $2.22 billion, or 39 cents a share, and sales declined 11.75% to $9.67 billion.
Oracle has an Irish workforce of just under 1,000.
