Sybase Inc saw a recovery in its core database sales this quarter, probably the most positive sign yet that it might eventually escape from a disastrous financial patch that began early in 1995. Yesterday, the Emeryville, California-based company posted fourth quarter revenues up 4% to $232.5m, hiding a 9% increase in software revenues. For the year, revenues declined to $867.4m from last year’s $903.9m. Sybase instigated yet another restructuring at the end of last year, which added a $22.4m charge to the fourth quarter, resulting in a loss of $14.5m, compared with last year’s $25.5m loss. Without the charge it would have shown a $7.9m profit, or $.10 per share, up sequentially from last quarter’s $2.2m profit. Net loss for the year was $93.1m, including $74.1m in restructuring charges, compared with the previous year’s $55.4m loss. CEO Steve Chen said he expected moderate revenue growth and continued profitability over 1999. The best news for the struggling company was that there was growth in its core server software business, including the Adaptive Server and Replication Server product lines. License revenues were up 32% sequentially, and 20% year- on-year. Demand is being driven by e-commerce and transaction processing applications, said Chen. Software revenues as a whole were up 9% for the quarter to $120.8m, while Sybase’s services business remained flat on $111.7m. Last year’s restructuring resulted in a Sybase split into four divisions. Chen said the new units, which focus on applications, business intelligence, enterprise solutions and mobile and embedded systems, would help fuel the company’s future revenue growth.
