Red Hat posts a decent quarter

OPEN SORCERER Red Hat posted decent third-quarter results against a backdrop of growing economic gloom.

The outfit reckons recession could be good for open source and upped revenue 22 per cent to $165.3 million in its third quater of financial year 2009.

Profit for the quarter was $24.3 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, compared with $20.3 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, in the year ago quarter.

The firm said it suffered from exchange rate fluctuations which cost it a few million dollars but otherwise things were going jolly well.

"This was a strong quarter where we delivered better-than-expected operating income, net income and cash flow," Charlie Peters, Red Hat CFO said.

After adjusting for stock compensation and amortisation expenses, non-GAAP operating income was $38.4 million, or a 23.2 per cent operating margin, up 120 basis points from the prior quarter, despite the strengthening US dollar and the Qumranet acquisition.

 Jim Whitehurst, president and CEO of Red Hat, said, "In this budget-constrained environment, IT professionals are adopting open source and more specifically Red Hat to save money and enhance their competitiveness." µ