Oracle profit up 20% at $1.35 bn in June-August quarter

IT giant Oracle Corporation has posted a 20 per cent jump in profit to $1.35 billion for the June-August quarter of the 2010-11 financial year, driven by strong growth in its software and hardware businesses.

The company had registered a profit of $1.12 billion in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal, a company statement said.

Total revenues of the group rose 48 per cent to $7.5 billion in the three months ended August 31, compared to $5.05 billion in the year-ago period.

"Our software business grew strongly in all regions, with new licence sales up 25 per cent. Our hardware business also grew faster than we expected, with Sun Solaris servers and Exadata leading the way," Oracle President Safra Catz said.

Sales of Oracle's new software licences grew by 25 per cent to $1.28 billion in the first quarter from $1.02 billion in the corresponding period last year.

Oracle's Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend of $0.05 per share for common share stockholders as of the close of business on October 6, 2010, with a payment date of November 3, 2010.

Mark Hurd, who recently joined Oracle as co-president, stated, "We will invest over $4 billion in research and development this year, so our already robust product portfolio is only going to get stronger."

Hurd, a high-profile Wall Street executive, had made an unceremonious exit from technology giant Hewlett-Packard in early August following allegations of sexual harassment.