Supply chain management software contender i2 Technologies, Inc, reported record figures after the markets closed Friday – but still managed to disappoint analysts, by beating estimates less than they had hoped. Shares fell 11% at one point. Nonetheless, the Irving, Texas based outfit was able to show sales up 128% year on year, from $87.9m to $200.7m, with net income of $7.2m, after $9.3m worth of charges related to acquisitions. The company’s figures are restated to take account of the $200m paper purchases of Think Systems Corp and Optimax Systems Corp in May (CI No 3,163), which have been accounted for as a pooling of interests. Excluding the charges i2 says its operating income rose 93% in 1997, to $12.9m, from 1996’s $7.2m. For the fourth quarter revenues more than doubled from the prior period, climbing from $30.8m to $62.1m, with net income of $5.6m before a $3.6m write-off from its close of year purchase of M-Star Systems Ltd. During the quarter the company closed a $17.5m deal with Motorola’s Semiconductor Products Sector and signed a non- exclusive distribution deal with Oracle Corp. It also completed a secondary public offering last month, making a further 3 million shares publicly available. International sales have also increased as an overall proportion of business, accounting for a third instead of a quarter of the company’s business. i2 has cause for cheer from these results despite the analyst brickbats; in August it seemed set for progress when it signed a deal with SAP AG for its Rhythm supply chain suite, but the deal foundered in October (CI No 3,262), with the German business software giant going it alone. Nonetheless i2 obviously continues to win business and market share.
