For the first quarter ending April 30, Serena reported a net loss of $4.2m, compared with net income $5.8m in the year-ago quarter. The quarter included a $10.4m acquisition charge.
Meanwhile, sales rose 38% $33.7m from $24.3m in the year-ago quarter. Software license revenue was $15.8m, up 46% over last year, while maintenance revenue was $14.8m, and services revenue was $3.1m.
The results for the first quarter include the operations of Merant. Yet even without including the results of Merant, Serena on a standalone basis met or exceeded consensus expectations for license revenue and total revenue, as well as non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP net income, and non-GAAP earnings per share.
Both Serena and Merant produced solid results even as we brought the companies together which is indicative of the positive response our customers have had to the combination, said president and CEO Mark Woodward. We now are the largest independent software change management vendor in market share and are looking to continue to grow. The integration of the two companies is progressing nicely and we should experience significant cost synergies this year while at the same time focusing on revenue growth going forward.
The San Mateo, California-based company said second-quarter operating earnings will be between $55m and $58m, or $0.24 and $0.25 a share, roughly in line with estimates. The guidance exceeded Wall Street expectations. Two analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call projected earnings per share of $0.15 and $0.19, respectively.
Serena is now the only major pure-play change management software vendor left and competitors include IBM, Borland Software, Compuware, and Oracle. Recent consolidation in the sector has led some observers to speculate whether change management as a discipline is not a sufficiently big enough market for a pure-play vendor to remain independent for long.
