Sun Q3 revenues fall 8.2pc


16 Apr 2004

Sun Microsystems, which is in the process of culling 9pc of its workforce or some 3,300 workers, has reported a decline in its third quarter revenues by 8.2pc on the previous quarter to US$2.6bn. According to local sources, it is still unclear how the company’s 200-strong Dublin workforce will be impacted by the job cuts.

Net loss for the quarter was US$760m or 23 cents per share compared with a net income of US$4m in the same quarter last year. The loss includes a non-cash charge of US$300m for an increase in the valuation allowance for deferred tax assets, a charge of US$203m for workforce and real estate restructuring. Excluding these losses, net loss for the quarter would have been approximately US$260m.

The results are broadly in line with an earnings warning last week by CEO Scott McNealy, who warned that the revenues would come in at around US$2.6bn with losses in the region of US$710m.

A spokesman for the company’s Dublin software R&D operation told siliconrepublic.com that there has been no communication from the head company as to what effect the cuts would have here. “Any effect would not be anticipated to be radical. Software R&D is very important in the overall scheme of things.”

Sun employs over 200 people at the company’s Strategic Software Development Centre in Dublin. Sun established its centre in Dublin 1993 where the company’s staff are engaged in strategic software engineering roles including software development, software localisation and system test. The company also operates collaborative research programmes with various third level colleges in Ireland.

Sun’s direct operational investments in Ireland since 1993 amounts to over US$110m. The company’s software centre in Dublin is one of its largest international primary research and development sites outside of the United States.

By John Kennedy