Novell chief predicts stormy weather in 2001

US software company Novell has warned that sales for 2001 will be lower than predicted despite reporting better than expected first quarter results.

Revenues dropped 22 per cent from the same quarter last year to $245m, compared to $316m in Q1 2000. The company posted a pre-tax operating loss of S$13.2m - a gain of over one cent per share. In a conference call, Dennis Raney, CFO of Novell, blamed the sales downturn on an overall reduction in IT expenditure. He predicted that revenues for 2001 will be "just over" $1bn, compared to $1.16bn last year. Irene Binial, reporter, silicon.de