However well a company does, there is always somebody to carp that it could have done better, and so Oracle Corp’s shares fell sharply after it reported those strong second quarter figures (page seven) – the complaint being that while profits were ahead of expectations, turnover was less than expected; Oracle said that while the company’s licence revenues for the quarter rose 29% year over year, the growth rate shrank to 22% when revenues from its systems integration business were included – but that business is being phased out; the shares closed up 75 cents at $39.625 as the figures were announced, but turned around sharply in after-hours trading to shed $4.125 following the figures announcement.
