Onyx Loss Narrows, Sales Sharply Off

Keeping in line with other CRM players, Onyx this week unveiled a steep drop in software sales for its first quarter due to weak corporate demand for software. However, the company posted a narrower loss for the quarter, which narrowed to $6.6 million, or 14 cents per share, from $15.7 million, or 42 cents, a year ago. Total revenue fell by about half to $14.6 million from $28.9 million last year as software sales fell 76 percent to about $3.1 million. Excluding charges related to restructuring and other items, the company recorded a pro-forma loss of $3.6 million, or 7 cents per share, larger than the 5 cents a share loss many analysts were expecting, according to Thomson Financial First Call estimates. This compares with a loss of $12.3 million, or 32 cents. Licensing revenue for the first quarter of 2002 fell to $3.1 million, which is off from the previous quarter's $6.6 million and sharply off from the $13 million collected in the first quarter of 2001. Service revenue was not hit quite as hard as Onyx collected $11.6 million in the first quarter of 2002 compared to $13.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2001. Service revenue was $16 million in the first quarter of 2001. "Since quarter close, we've taken actions designed to improve our future license revenue," said Onyx Software Chief Executive Brent Frei, in a statement. "We've hired additional sales leadership and are adding experienced professional sales personnel. We've already seen a positive impact from John Fraser, the former Sybase executive we announced as our new senior vice president of Americas sales on April 22nd."