SunGard publishes third quarter results

SunGard reported yesterday that net income (profit) for the three months ended September 30th, 2003 was $92 million, an 18 percent increase over $78 million for the third quarter of 2002.

Diluted net income per share for the quarter grew 15 percent to $0.31, which included $0.01 per share of merger costs for the quarter, as compared to the $0.27 reported in 2002, which included $0.02 per share of merger costs. Earnings per share before merger costs for the quarter were $0.32, up 10 percent from $0.29 in the third quarter of 2002.

For the first nine months of 2003, net income and diluted net income per share were $258 million and $0.89, respectively, increases of 12 percent and 13 percent over comparable results reported in 2002.

Revenue (turnover) for the third quarter of 2003 was $742 million, an increase of 13 percent over the $660 million reported in the year-ago quarter. Revenue from businesses owned for at least a year (internal revenue) was unchanged from the same period in 2002. Revenue for the first nine months of 2003 was $2.15 billion, an increase of 14 percent over the $1.89 billion reported for 2002.

Cristobal Conde, president and chief executive officer, commented, "SunGard has performed solidly in 2003. Over the past three years, IT spending has been characterised by cost-cutting and an overriding focus on resilience. Today, we see our leading customers putting an equal emphasis on gaining market share. As a result, we see an improvement in the size and quality of leads coming into our pipeline, especially for offerings on an ASP or outsourced basis where we can leverage our economies of scale and resilient IT infrastructure. Our competitiveness is stronger than ever."

"Our outlook for 2003 diluted net income per share is in the range of $1.23 to $1.28, which includes $0.01 per share of merger costs incurred through the end of September. Therefore, excluding merger costs, our original outlook of $1.24 to $1.29 per share remains unchanged. Because the timing of acquisitions and the amount of merger costs are unpredictable, this outlook assumes that we will have no further merger-related items in 2003. It also assumes neither a rebound nor a further deterioration in demand in 2003," added Mr. Conde.

Availability Services, SunGard’s business continuity division, saw revenue growth of 2 percent to $290 million in the quarter, due primarily to currency fluctuation. Sungard cited IT capital spending, which has been flat, as the main reason for lack of growth in this area, since it is a key driver in business continuity spending.

•Date: 23rd October 2003 •Region: Various/World •Type: Article •Topic: BC markets
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