Press Release

Novell Reports First Fiscal Quarter 1999 Results:

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Revenue of $286 Million and Earnings of $0.08 Per Share

PROVO, Utah — February 25, 1999 — Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVL) today reported revenue of $286 million for its first fiscal quarter ended January 31, 1999, a 13 percent increase over the $252 million recorded in the first quarter of fiscal 1998. Net income was $29 million in the quarter, up from $14 million in the prior year. Earnings on a diluted basis were $0.08 per share, compared with $0.04 in the year-earlier period

"The tremendous initial response to NetWare 5 in our first quarter is being amplified by new directory- related products," said Dr. Eric Schmidt, Novell chairman and CEO. "From network caching to central management of NT workstations, Novell Directory Services is opening up new product opportunities for the company. Looking forward, the stage is set for Novell and its partners to build innovative services for a rapidly growing directory market."

The three segments of Novell's business that are directory-related accounted for 88 percent of total revenue in the quarter, and grew 27 percent year-over-year. Revenue from directory-enabled NetWare servers totaled $146 million, up 16 percent from the first quarter of 1998. Network applications comprising GroupWise collaboration software, ManageWise and Z.E.N.works management software, increased 50 percent from the prior year to $53 million. Infrastructure products that are directory-enabled contributed $15 million, up 68 percent from the year-earlier period, fueled by strong growth from BorderManager and NDS for NT. Service, training and consulting revenues were up 31 percent to $37 million.

Older pre-directory products represented the remaining 12 percent of Novell's revenue. These include NetWare 3, TCP/IP connectivity and UNIX related royalties. Collectively, they declined 35 percent year- over-year to $35 million.

On a geographic basis, revenue was $156 million in the United States, up 9 percent year-over-year. In the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, revenue increased 31 percent to $94 million, as an increasing number of large organizations moved to NDS in preparing for Euro-driven market opportunities and a post-2000 network infrastructure. Revenue of $22 million from Asia Pacific was approximately even with the year-earlier quarter, and the Americas region, outside the U.S., was down slightly at $14 million.

Multi-product corporate and channel license programs grew 47 percent over the year earlier quarter, to $148 million, driven by increasing deployments of Novell Directory Service and new directory-enabled applications such as BorderManager and Z.E.N.works. Novell experienced especially strong year-over- year growth from sales of Corporate License Agreements (CLA) and Value License Agreements (VLA) by computer resellers and systems integrators. The company believes the strength of these programs reflects growing channel acceptance of its new products and increasing directory deployments by customers with mid-size as well as large networks.

On the balance sheet, cash and short-term investments were $1.015 billion at the end of the first fiscal quarter, compared with $1.007 billion at October 1998 fiscal year-end. Net cash from operations contributed $83 million in the quarter. Days sales outstanding of trade receivables declined to 66 days, down from 75 days at the end of fiscal 1998.

During the quarter the company spent $77 million to repurchase 5 million shares of Novell common stock. On June 5, 1998, Novell's board of directors authorized the company to repurchase up to 10 percent, or approximately 35 million shares, of Novell common stock over twelve months. To date, the company has spent $322 million to purchase and retire 26 million shares of common stock.

Business Outlook

Novell's business objective, over the longer-term, is to grow its revenue as deployments of Novell Directory Services (NDS) in business networks increase the market potential for directory-enabled applications. In addition to having moved to open Internet standards with NetWare 5, Novell is also bringing to market new directory-enabled applications that will ultimately span from systems management to commerce services on the network.

The company believes it has an opportunity to enter software product categories where it has not historically competed. In addition the company is actively pursuing areas of the Internet market that are still in an embryonic stage of development. Examples of new directory-enabled applications include BorderManager for security and caching, and NDS for NT for centralized management of NT workstations. Novell anticipates bringing more new products to market in 1999 than it did in 1998.

Novell plans to expand the value of directory-based management and control of network applications and devices by supporting the integration of these varied resources with NDS. Recent examples include NDS for Solaris, a new Novell product that integrates Sun Microsystems Solaris systems with the NDS network platform. Tivoli Systems has announced the integration of Tivoli Enterprise, User Administration and Inventory software with NDS. IBM has announced the availability of Novell Network Services for OS/390, to take NDS to their mainframe environment. Cisco, Lucent Technologies, and Nortel have announced intentions to integrate NDS with their products for policy based management of switches and routers and for IP address management.

About Novell

Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVL) is the leading provider of network software enabled by directory services. Novell Internet solutions make networks more manageable and secure and reduce the total cost of ownership for organizations of every kind and size. Novell's worldwide channel, developer, education and technical support programs are the most extensive in the network computing industry.

For information on Novell's complete range of products and services, contact Novell's Customer Response Center at (888) 321-4CRC (4272), or visit Novell's Web site at www.novell.com. Investors can obtain financial and corporate information at Novell's investor relations Web site at www.novell.com/ir. Press may access Novell announcements and company information on the World Wide Web at www.novell.com/pressroom.

Forward looking statements in this release are made under the Safe Harbor Reform Act of 1996. These statements are based on current expectations and actual results may differ materially due to risks, uncertainties, and other factors. Additional information covering factors that could cause results to differ materially from projected statements can be found in Novell's 10-K and 10-Q filings, as well as the annual report.

Press Contacts:
Peter Troop
Novell, Inc.
Phone: (408) 967-8150
Internet: peter_troop@novell.com

Jonathan Cohen
Novell, Inc.
Phone: (408) 577-7268
Internet: jcohen@novell.com

Novell, Inc. Consolidated Unaudited Condensed Balance Sheets (In thousands)

ASSETS                                          Jan 31, 1999            Oct 31, 1998
                                                ____________            ____________
Current assets
Cash and short-term investments                   $1,015,422              $1,007,167
Receivables, net *                                   206,227                 246,577
Inventories                                            2,737                   3,562
Prepaid expenses                                      63,189                  63,165
Deferred& refundable income taxes                    79,839                  95,343
Other current assets                                  39,514                  19,886
                                                ____________            ____________
Total current assets                               1,406,928               1,435,700

Property, plant and equipment, net                   341,172                 346,196
Long-term investments                                156,842                 114,815
Other assets                                          25,729                  27,401
                                                ____________            ____________
Total assets                                      $1,930,671              $1,924,112
                                                ============            ============
LIABILITIES& SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

Current liabilities
Accounts payable                                     $73,644                 $77,987
Accrued compensation                                  52,948                  52,348
Accrued marketing liabilities                         17,527                  16,383
Other accrued liabilities                             58,938                  62,206
Income taxes payable                                  61,158                  64,057
Deferred revenue                                     137,421                 141,714
                                                ____________             ___________
Total current liabilities                            401,636                 414,695

Minority interests                                    15,933                  15,919

Shareholders' equity                               1,513,102               1,493,498
                                                ____________             ___________
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity        $1,930,671              $1,924,112
                                                ============             ===========

*  Receivables, net include trade receivables less allowances. All other
non-trade receivables are included in Other current assets.

Novell, Inc. Consolidated Unaudited Condensed Statements of Income (In thousands, except per share data)

                                              First Fiscal Quarter Ended
                                        ____________________________________
                                        Jan 31, 1999            Jan 31, 1998
                                        ____________            ____________
Net sales                                   $285,806                $252,042
Cost of sales                                 64,120                  57,087
                                        ____________            ____________
Gross profit                                 221,686                 194,955

Operating expenses
Sales and marketing                          105,337                 104,211
Product development                           54,005                  60,238
General and administrative                    25,994                  25,574
                                        ____________            ____________
Total operating expenses                     185,336                 190,023


Income (loss) from operations                 36,350                   4,932

Other income, net                              3,786                  14,643
                                        ____________            ____________
Income (loss) before taxes                    40,136                  19,575

Income taxes                                  11,238                   5,481
                                        ____________            ____________
Net income (loss)                            $28,898                 $14,094
                                        ============            ============
Weighted average shares:
Basic                                        337,441                 351,031
Diluted                                      351,522                 352,971
                                        ============            ============
Net income (loss) per share:
Basic                                          $0.09                   $0.04
Diluted                                        $0.08                   $0.04
                                        ============            ============