Novell reported unexpectedly strong operating profit and revenue for its fourth quarter, though restructuring expenses pulled the company into the red.
Novell also forecast first-quarter revenue of between US$260 million and US$270 million, with earnings per share of 2 to 3 cents. That excludes an estimated 3 cents per share from expensing stock options.
The company's previously announced restructuring, which will involve layoffs of about 10% of its workforce, will hurt revenue by US$40 million to US$50 million for fiscal 2006.
For the just-finished quarter, Novell reported revenue of US$320 million, up from US$301 million in the prior year's quarter, and a net loss of US$5 million, or 1 cent per share. That compares with net income of US$14.8 million, or 3 cents per share, in the same period last year.
Linux revenue was US$61 million, including US$46 million from sales of Open Enterprise Server, up 418% from the year-ago quarter. Sales of stand-alone subscriptions to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server totaled 64,000 in the quarter. Novell also took in US$84 million from identity products.
For the entire year, Novell had sales of US$1.2 billion, compared with US$1.17 billion in the previous year.