Business Objects SA, the French-American decision support tools company, has reported third-quarter net income up 155% at $5.9m on revenue up 44.9% at $59.8m. Earnings per share for the quarter more than doubled to $0.30 from $0.13, easily beating Wall Street estimates of $0.25. The results marked the ninth consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth of more than 40%. License fees rose 42.2% to $37.3m and accounted for 62% of overall revenue, while services revenue rose 49.5% to $22.5m. The company says it expanded its customer base in the quarter by 125,000 new licenses for a total of 1.44 million worldwide.
Gross margins for the quarter were 82.9%, essentially flat with the year-ago quarter. The company, which has its US headquarters in San Jose, says revenues in the North America region grew at 55%. Revenue from indirect channels accounted for 46% of total revenues. The company’s balance sheet showed $93.9m in cash and equivalents, up from $71.7m on December 31. For the nine-month period, net income jumped 151.3% to $14.2m on revenue up 44.6% at $166.8m. Earnings per share for the period rose 131% to $0.74.
