JD Edwards & Co, the ERP software vendor from Denver, Colorado, it still gaining momentum in its traditional AS/400 market while also pushing further into the Unix and NT arenas. Fourth quarter net profits rose 65% to $38m on revenues up 42% at $307.1m, while for the year to October 31 profits doubled to $75m and revenues rose 44% to $933m. Having already overtaken the deeply troubled Baan Co NV in revenue terms, JD Edwards’ core software sales are now gaining on the number two and three players, Peoplesoft Inc and Oracle Corp. License fees in the quarter grew by 47% to $144m, faster than the pace of services growth which was up 42% to $164m. By comparison, PeopleSoft Inc grew license sales by only 30% last quarter and is increasingly looking to services to sustain growth. Chief financial officer Rick Allen told Dow Jones that he expects the company to grow faster than its rivals next year with software license growth in the mid-50% range. JD Edwards now dominates the ERP market on the AS/400 platform following repeated stumbles at rival System Software Associates Inc. However, future growth will also be driven by contributions from Unix and NT products. Current annual revenues from non AS/400 products grew to $150 from $71m last time, and this trend is expected to continue. JD Edwards earnings figures were also a penny ahead of the consensus of estimates at $0.34 per share.
