Informix Reports Unexpected Q4 '97 Profit
Informix (Menlo Park, CA, Nasdaq: IFMX) announces preliminary Q4 '97 financial results. Revenue of approximately $181.2 million compares with Q4 '96 revenue of $216.8 million. Thanks largely to restructuring activities, Informix surprised nearly everyone by predicting a $9.2 million profit, or $0.05 per share, compared with a Q3 '97 loss of $110.5 million. For the year, Informix expects to report revenue of $662.3 million and a net loss of $358.8 million. License revenues were up 36% and total revenue growth was up 21% from Q3 '97. "1997 was a very difficult year for Informix," said chairman and CEO Bob Finnochio, "but the fourth quarter demonstrates solid progress towards our goals. Although our work is far from complete, we have made progress on our way toward building the new Informix." Wall Street had expected Informix to post another quarterly loss of approximately $0.16 per share. Informix shares rocketed 19% yesterday in extremely active trading. Industry analysts say, though, that Informix isn't out of the woods yet. The company faces strong competition from IBM (Armonk, NY), Oracle (Redwood Shores, CA) and Microsoft (Redmond, WA), and the fourth quarter is traditionally its strongest quarter, so results may not be quite as rosy in Q1 '98.