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CLOUD HURTS INFOR REVENUE Featured

Charles Phillips, InforThe transition to the cloud held down Infor's results for the third quarter ended January 31. But that's a short-term result as the company expects a longer-term return. The company boosted net income to $51.3 million for the most recently ended period, up 66.5 percent from $31.9 million, helped along by $40.8 million in interest income this year, compared to $23.3 million a year earlier, spurred by currency changes.

However, revenue fell to $129.2 million, down 2.4 percent from $132.4 million in last year's corresponding quarter. The drop in revenue stemmed from customers switching to cloud products, and instead of receiving upfront money from license sales, the company's revenue arrives over time, CEO Charles Phillips said in a recent earnings conference call. If new deals "had been from perpetual licenses, revenue would have increased in strong double digits," Phillips said. As it was, 19 "significant sales" flipped from license deals to subscriptions. Infor estimates it takes will take about 2.5 years before the subscription incomes exceeds what would have come from licenses. Phillips said of the top 10 deals, five were from healthcare or the public sector, markets he said looking to avoid higher upfront expense. Cloud sales are also driven by the fact payment comes out of the operating budget, not capital, and lower initial payments means deals can be approved by lower levels of management. The switch to cloud also reduced services revenue, and head count was reduced there. Phillips said Infor will increase its sales staff but hold other areas flat, including R&D, which has grown sharply over the last two years.

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