Abode Systems has posted record 2005 figures.
Abobe reported fourth-quarter sales up almost 19% year-on-year to $510.4 million, while it grew net income to $156.3 million, up from $113.5 million in Q4 2004. Sales for the full year 2005 nearly reached the $2 billion mark, coming in at $1.97 billion, up 18% year-on-year.
The most notable event during Adobe’s year was the completion of its acquisition of Macromedia, which it bought for approximately $3.4 billion in April. At the time of the deal, Adobe said the acquisition was not about consolidation but about growth. However, the company’s recent announcement that it is to cut around 10% of the combined entity’s workforce, some 600 to 700 jobs, shows that it is determined to find efficiencies through the merger as it seeks to grow its profitability yet further.
The acquisition of Macromedia looks to have been a winner. In October, Macromedia’s last quarterly results announcement as an independent company showed it was still growing strongly after the announcement of its acquisition: sales came in at $127.9 million, up 18%, and net income came to $20.3 million. It put that success down to demand for Flex and Breeze.
So far there are no signs of Adobe taking its foot off the pedal. It said it expects revenue of between $630 million and $660 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2006, and full year sales of $2.7 billion.
Aside from the Macromedia products, Adobe’s engine of growth consists of its Creative Suite and Acrobat platform. Creative Suite 2 is consistently well reviewed and has been a great success as users who had previously only been a customer of one of the applications within the suite, such as Photoshop or Illustrator, have upgraded in their droves.
Looking forward, Adobe’s CEO Bruce Chizen has also said in recent interviews with Computer Business Review that he sees plenty more room for growth from the company’s Acrobat family of document creation and collaboration products, to which it has been gradually adding more and more document lifecycle management, workflow, and even business process management capabilities.
