Canadian software company Corel Corp. is cutting nine per cent of its staff, or 66 people, to reflect its expected revenue performance, it said recently.
For the second quarter of 2003, Corel reported a net loss of US$5.6 million or $0.06 per share, on revenue of $32.2 million. That compares to a net loss of $574,000 or $0.01 per share on revenue of $28.3 million in the first quarter of the year, and to a loss of $6.3 million or $0.07 on revenue of $30.8 million in the same quarter last year, Corel said in a statement.
Corel launched four new products during the quarter – WordPerfect Office 11, Corel Designer 10, Corel Painter 8 and Corel Smart Graphics Studio – and said that the launch of the office suite had caused a slight increase in revenue. However, revenue growth is a challenge for the company as it tries to move from older graphics products to new XML (Extensible Markup Language) content management products, it said.
By category, Corel said revenue from graphics solutions fell 5.6 per cent year on year to $14 million, while revenue from office productivity products rose 33 per cent to $15 million. Office productivity revenue jumped 66.6 per cent quarter on quarter, reflecting the launch of the Office suite, Corel said.
XML product revenue grew 46.6 per cent compared to the year-ago quarter, to $456,000, but dropped 60 per cent from the previous quarter, when it hit $1.1 million, the statement said.
The cuts to Corel’s workforce will reduce payroll costs by about $4.2 million per year, the company said.
Corel in Ottawa announced earlier this month that it had agreed to be acquired by Vector Capital Corp. of San Francisco for $97.5 million.