Red Hat in the black in third quarter

Linux software maker Red Hat achieved its first quarterly profit in the third quarter of its 2003 fiscal year ended Nov. 30, boosted by growing sales of its enterprise server operating system.

Net income was $305,000, with earnings per share breaking even, based on U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). In the third quarter of the previous fiscal year, Red Hat reported a loss of $15.1 million, or $0.09 per share. Revenue for the just-ended quarter totaled $24.3 million, compared to about $20 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Analysts had expected the company to break even on sales of $23.4 million, according to analysts polled by financial research group First Call/Thomson Financial.

Enterprise revenue, which does not include the company’s embedded software business, accounted for 93 percent of Red Hat’s total revenue, the company said. Contributing to the nearly 50% year-over-year growth in its enterprise business was Red Hat Linux Advanced Server, its enterprise server operating system, which acquired 12,000 new customers during the quarter. Those new subscribers more than doubled its customer base for that product, it said.