System Software Associates Inc has warned that financial results for its second fiscal quarter will fall short of expectations. The Chicago-based provider of enterprise resource planning software and services said that revenue for the period ended April 30 will fall in the range of $84m to $86m, down sequentially from the first quarter’s $89.7m – itself a 9% decline year-over-year.
Analysts surveyed by First Call were already expecting a second- quarter loss of $0.07 per share against a loss of $0.20 in the year-ago period. The company, which had earlier promised a return to profitability this fiscal year, has so far failed to deliver on that pledge. It issued a similar warning in February before posting a first-quarter loss of $0.11, which it blamed on an overall slowdown in the ERP market due to Y2K spending.
All SSA would offer by way of explanation for the latest shortfall was lower-than-expected software license revenues in the period. The loss will mark the sixth consecutive quarter in the red for the troubled company, which has undergone financial and organizational restructuring in recent months in an attempt to fix its problems. Full results for the quarter are due on May 20.
