Sybase Turns A Loss Around

Despite a difficult first quarter on the sales side, Sybase Inc. on Thursday reported net income of $13 million, or 13 cents a share, compared with a loss of $116.4 million, or $1.14 per share, for the same quarter a year ago.

The maker of database, integration, and infrastructure software reported sales of $181.5 million for the quarter ended March 31, down 14% from the $211 million reported a year ago. License revenue, a key indicator of future growth, fell a precipitous 27%, to $60.9 million. On the plus side, the company recorded cash flow from operations of $95.5 million, ending the quarter with $464.5 million in cash and cash investments.

CEO John Chen blames slow sales on a difficult global economy. During the quarter, Sybase closed its acquisition of AvantGo Inc., an aggregator and distributor of content for PDAs. Chen says AvantGo's portal has 8 million subscribers.