Oracle Enjoying Strong ERP Sales for Quarter

For some companies, the idea of a recession may not even enter into strategic thinking as sales are going strong. Such is the case for Oracle in its ERP division. Reported sales were strong for the second quarter and show no signs of slowing.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison plans to let no competitor rest as Oracle offers a wide range of ERP software at competitive prices. This approach helped to drive top-line growth in revenue by 47 percent for the second quarter of fiscal 2011.

Ever the dominating force, Oracle maintains a number of moving parts, competing in markets for everything from databases to middleware software, enterprise applications, server hardware and ERP. The purchase of Sun Microsystems definitely brought on new opportunities for the company, yet the battle raging for market dominance among key ERP providers such as SAP remains a primary focus.

In the ERP space, Oracle’s second quarter revenue jumped 12 percent year over year, to $1.8 billion. Of that figure, $579 million represented new ERP software licenses, which was 21 percent more than in the second quarter, fiscal 2010. Software maintenance in the ERP space also grew at 8 percent to reach $1.2 billion.

In a conference call to discuss second quarter results, Ellison told analysts that Oracle continues to gain market share away from rival SAP in the ERP and enterprise applications space. He contributes this growth to Oracle’s ability to deliver industry-specific applications.

The power of the Oracle brand also helps to secure ERP implementations and Oracle leverages its brand very well. The company plans to release a next-generation suite of ERP products next year with Fusion Applications.