Corel's statement last week that it would see a small, but positive profit for its first quarter proved correct when the troubled software company revealed its final figures last night.

Corel said income would come in around $500,000 - in the final analysis, it totalled $534,000 (one cent a share). This time last year, it lost $12.4 million.

That said, the profit resulted solely from interest on its cash pile. Operationally, Corel lost $1 million, compared to the $18.7 million it reported for the same period last year.

Revenues of the quarter came to $32.5 million, as the company said they would. Sales were down year on year, an increase in sales of graphics apps failing to compensate fully for a collapse in Corel's word processing software sales.

Graphics sales reached $20.8 million, up from last year's $19.8 million; word processing and productivity sales plummeted from $22.1 million in Q1 2000 to $11.6 in Q1 2001.

Cutting admin, R&D and marketing costs were roughly halved during the quarter, bringing operating expenses down from $47.8 million to $27 million.

Despite the cuts, Corel still hopes to its graphics sales will grow 15-20 per cent through 2001. An upcoming new version of WordPerfect Office will exactly compensate for the drop in sales this quarter and those expected in Q2. Overall, Corel expects to see revenues grow 8-12 per cent throughout 2001. ®

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