Lawson Software Inc., the St. Paul maker of business software, said fiscal fourth-quarter net income dropped by 55 percent amid charges related to the firm's holdings of auction-rate securities.
The results were in line with forecasts, but the company offered gloomy numbers for the coming quarter and fiscal 2009, sending shares down in after-hours trading.
Lawson reported net income for the quarter ended May 31 of $3.68 million, or 2 cents a share, compared with $8.13 million, or 4 cents a share, a year earlier.
Results included a $6.1 million charge on the sale of the company's auction rate securities, which had been frozen since auctions failed in February. Before that they had been considered as safe as cash. Since the end of the quarter, the company has liquidated its $45.2 million in auction-rate holdings.
Excluding the write-down and other items, earnings rose to 10 cents a share, from 8 cents. Revenue grew 9 percent, to $233 million. The mean earnings estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters was 10 cents a share on revenue of $229 million.
For the first quarter, Lawson expects earnings of 6 to 7 cents a share on revenue of $195 million to $200 million, compared with Wall Street's view of 8 cents on revenue of $205 million. For fiscal 2009, the company expects earnings of 43 to 47 cents a share on revenue of $920 million to $925 million, compared with Wall Street's forecast of 51 cents a share on revenue of $922 million.
Lawson shares fell 41 cents, or 5.7 percent, to $6.76 in after-hours trading Thursday. The results were announced after the stock market closed.
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