BEA Systems revealed good news and bad news for the first quarter ended 30 April 2004. It made a pre-tax profit of $39.1m on sales of $262.2m - up 11 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.

But BEA recorded lower software sales, missing targets by 2 per cent. Revenue from software licenses was $120.2m, down from $122.3m for the same period a year ago. Observers believe the falling revenues are due to increased pressure from competitors like IBM. BEA shares fell sharply on the news.

Sales in the US fell, accounting for 48 per cent of the total - it usually makes up more than half. BEA president and CEO Alfred Chuang told a conference call this was down to reorganising the sales team and changing the way BEA deals with mid-sized companies. The company is shuffling some senior executives to solve the problem.®

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