Oracle Q1 net income climbs 36% to $1.8 bn

Software major Oracle Corp has reported a 36% jump in net income to $1.8 billion for the three-month period ended August 31, 2011, on account of strong sales from its core software business.

In the year-ago period, the company had registered a net income of $1.35 billion, Oracle said in a statement.

The company's total revenues were up 12% vis-a-vis the year-ago period to $8.4 billion in the quarter under review.

Oracle's new software licence revenues were up 17% to $1.5 billion, while hardware systems products revenues were down 5% to $1 billion.

"New software licence sales grew 17%. This strong organic growth coupled with disciplined business management enabled yet another increase in our operating margin in Q1. Operating cash flow increased this quarter to $5.4 billion, up $1.6 billion from $3.8 billion in Q1 of last year," Oracle President and CFO Safra Catz said.

The company said its earnings per share stood at 36 cents in the first quarter of FY12, up 34% compared to last year.

"Our high-end server business -- Exadata, Exalogic, and SPARC M-Series -- delivered solid double-digit revenue growth in Q1," the company said.

"In contrast, revenue declined in our low-end server business. By moving away from low-margin commodity hardware and focusing on high-end servers, we increased our hardware gross margins from 48% to 54%. Our strategy to grow the profitable parts of our hardware business is paying off," it said.