Micro Focus share price slips but revenue decline slows
Software company Micro Focus has said today that its revenue is not declining as fast as previously announced.
On a constant currency basis revenue fell eight per cent for the six months ended 30 April 2018, rather than previous guidance of a nine to 12 per cent fall.
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Its share price fell by nearly five per cent this morning following the trading update.
The company also reiterated its full-year guidance of revenue falling six to nine per cent.
In March billions of pounds were wiped from Micro Focus's stock market valuation after it announced sharply falling sales and the exit of its chief executive Chris Hsu.
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In May it signed a $40m (£30.1m) licensing deal which it said should help its half-year performance.
Earlier this month Micro Focus said it had agreed terms to sell its Suse business to private equity house EQT for $2.535bn in cash.
In September 2017 Micro Focus acquired the software business of Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE) for $8.8bn.
It has since struggled to integrate the business and admitted today it is running one year behind its original plan.
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However, executive chairman Kevin Loosemore said the pace of integration had picked up.
“Since March there has been an improved momentum in the HPE Software integration process and a slowdown in the rate of revenue decline,” he said.