Lawson Struggles Through Tough Year

This past year was a tough one for Lawson Software Inc. The enterprise resource planning vendor reported an annual net loss of $3.8 million for fiscal 2003 on revenue of $344.3 million, a big drop from last year's net income of $8.4 million on revenue of $428.3 million.

For the fourth quarter ended May 31, the company on Thursday reported net income of $2.2 million on revenue of $90.7 million, compared with $1.1 million on revenue of $107 million in the year-ago quarter. Net income for the quarter included the benefit of restructuring adjustments and non-cash expenses; on a normalized basis, net income was $2.9 million for the fourth quarter.

License fee revenue for 2003 was $77.6 million, compared with $150.2 million a year ago. Services revenue was $266.7 million, compared with $278.1 million a year ago.

Jay Coughlan, Lawson president and CEO, said in a statement that the company remains "100% focused on meeting the needs of our customers," and will not be distracted by the recent events that have "created speculation and confusion in the software marketplace." Coughlan pointed to the new customers the company adds to its list each quarter; Lawson signed 184 contracts in the fourth quarter, and of the total licensing activity, about 47.5% came from new customers. Five of the software licensing contracts signed were valued at more than $1 million each. Significant wins included the Mayo Clinic, COOP Sweden AB, and Northrop Grumman Information Technology.