Oracle Corp, Redwood Shores, California continues to report surging sales and profits, and, breaking the figures down, says latest quarter licence sales rose by 44% from a year ago, led by a 59% increase in server sales and a 65% rise in applications revenues. Service revenues rose 61% from a year earlier. Oracle Americas business rose by 48%, while Oracle Europe, Middle East and Africa posted 44% growth and Oracle Asia Pacific, including Japan, had 77% revenue gains from a year ago, where sales were helped by currency fluctuations between the dollar and the Japanese yen. For the current – fiscal fourth – quarter the company expects to achieve year-over-year growth of more than 65% in licensing revenues for its application software business, which soared 65% to $83m in the third quarter – still a drop in the $722m ocean of business for the company overall in the quarter. The head-count at the company was up a whopping 43% at 16,083, compared with 11,265 a year ago, but the rate of growth is now expected to start moderating.Pre-tax margins stood at 21.7% of overall sales in the third quarter, compared with 21.6% a year earlier. The company also noted that its recent use of the Internet as a new sales channel, perceived as a way of countering Microsoft Corp’s formidable muscle in the retail sector, has been well received.
