Oracle hurt by IT spending cuts

Oracle has cut its profit forecasts for the first time in three years.

The company has blamed cuts in corporate IT spending with senior management not signing off software purchases agreed by their juniors. The slowing US economy was the root of all this, but the company said sales in Europe and Asia Pacific remained strong

"License growth was strong in the first two months of the third quarter, and our internal sales forecast looked good up until the last few days of the quarter," CEO Larry Ellison said. "However, a substantial number of our customers decided to delay their IT spending."

Earnings for the quarter ending Feb. 28 were 10 cents a share, 2 cents below analysts' estimates. Preliminary Q3 results show license revenues grew about 6 per cent and total revenue 9 per cent. Sales growth from business apps was about 50 per cent. Database revenue growth was flat. ®