Oracle earnings stress sector’s dollar woes

When Oracle, the world’s second biggest software company, reports its latest earnings on Thursday, it will highlight an inconvenient truth for the US technology industry: the big lift the sector has had in recent years from the weakening US dollar is over, at least for now.

In its fiscal year to the end of May, roughly a quarter of Oracle’s reported revenue growth came from foreign currency translation effects, as the falling dollar increased the value of its overseas sales. Given their strong position in large parts of the global technology market, many other US tech companies have seen similar lifts from their big overseas positions.

Currency adjustments have contributed nearly half of the revenue growth at software makers Symantec and Autodesk in the first half of this year, according to an analysis by Citigroup.

A bounce in the dollar since July, particularly against the euro, has put at least a temporary end to that benefit, just as tech companies are bracing for a downturn in demand due to the weakening economy.

Adobe, another big software concern, said this week that, in its most recent quarter, foreign currency adjustments had actually depressed its reported revenue slightly compared with the preceding three months, the first time for several years currencies have not provided a tailwind.

Since Wall Street generally looks at year-to-year growth rates rather than quarter-to-quarter, the full impact of the stronger dollar, if it holds, will not be felt until next year. However, the dollar bounce will also have an immediate impact in at least two ways.

For fast-growing companies whose growth is judged on a quarter-to-quarter basis, the currency tailwind of recent quarters will turn into an immediate headwind. That is still the case with Google, at least when it comes to the “whisper number” that Wall Street uses each quarter to assess the company’s earnings, said Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst at Collins Stewart.

“It is significant for Google,” Mr Aggarwal added. “It is a trend reversal, after 10 quarters of positive impact.” Foreign currency earnings have helped to support Google’s growth rate as it has hit the inevitable slowdown that comes with reaching massive size.

Revenue growth in the second quarter fell to 43 per cent from 63 per cent a year before, but would have slumped to 36 per cent had it not been for a weaker dollar.

A second immediate effect will come as Wall Street analysts start to revise their earnings forecasts for next year to reflect the new exchange rates.

Author: Richard Waters @ www.ft.com

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First Niagara Financial Group Selects Oracle CRM On Demand

Community bank will initially roll out product to all 114 bank branches.

First Niagara Financial Group (Lockport, N.Y.), a community-focused bank that provides financial services through 114 branches and four regional market centers across upstate New York, has selected Oracle (Redwood Shores, Calif.) CRM On Demand to address key sales and customer insight challenges the company faces.

The new Oracle CRM On Demand implementation will help deliver better cross-sales and up-sales by measuring overall revenue and number of products sold over time, customer loyalty capitalization, better reaction to acquisitions and added lines of business, as well as increased visibility into customer profiles, trends and forecasts for higher customer satisfaction and new sales. First Niagara Financial Group will initially roll out Oracle CRM On Demand to all 114 bank branches, and plans to roll out to other regional offices in the future.

Source: Peggy Bresnick Kendler @ www.banktech.com

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Former Oracle apps development exec said to be joining SAP

John Wookey taking new job at Oracle arch rival, source says; SAP declines to comment. John Wookey, who left his position as senior vice president of applications development at Oracle Corp. last fall, is taking a job with Oracle's bitter rival, SAP AG, according to a source with knowledge of Wookey's plans.

SAP spokesman Saswato Das declined to confirm or deny the hiring of Wookey when reached on Monday. "We always want to inform our employees about any company news first," Das said. "We have nothing to say on this matter until we have a chance to brief our people."

Oracle officials didn't immediately return a message seeking comment on the matter, nor could Wookey himself be reached. It wasn't clear what his role at SAP would be.

Wookey was a key figure behind Oracle's long-percolating Fusion Applications strategy, which will combine elements of the vendor's various business software lines into a new suite. His departure from Oracle in October 2007 prompted questions about the status of the Fusion project, but the precise reasons why Wookey left haven't been publicized.

Since his departure from Oracle, Wookey has seemingly kept a low profile, perhaps due to a noncompete agreement. Meanwhile, Oracle still hasn't set a firm release date for the initial version of the Fusion suite, but company officials said in September that they hope to deliver the applications to early users before the end of next year.

The news of Wookey's apparent hiring by SAP prompted a thumbs-up from China Martens, an analyst at The 451 Group. Wookey "brings a wealth of ERP experience to SAP, both from his days at Oracle and at Ross Systems," Martens said. Ross Systems, an Atlanta-based ERP vendor, was acquired by Hong Kong-based CDC Corp. in 2003 and now is part of that company's CDC Software unit.

Author: Chris Kanaracus @ www.computerworld.com

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