Aspen Tech announces revenue drop in first quarter of fiscal 2010

Burlington, Massachusetts based Aspen Technology, Inc., which providers software and services to process industries, has announced its financial results for its first quarter of fiscal 2010, ended September 30, 2009.

For the quarter ended September 30, 2009, AspenTech reported total revenue of $39.8 million, a decrease compared to $86.4 million in the first quarter of the prior year. It also reported a loss from operations of $24.8 million, against an income of $18.3 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2008. Net loss was $21.1 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2010, leading to net loss per diluted share of $0.23, compared to net income per diluted share of $0.12 during the same period last year.

The company attributed both the decline in revenue and the loss from operations to the ratable revenue recognition characteristics associated with the company’s new aspenONE licensing model. It said that it has now expanded the number of revenue categories that it will report to include subscription revenue that will include all revenue associated with the company’s new aspenONE licensing model, software revenue that will include all non-subscription-based license revenue, and services & other revenue including professional services, maintenance and other revenue.

AspenTech had a cash balance of $109 million as of September 30, 2009, compared to $122 million at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. In its statement, the company said that it did not sell any installments receivable to raise cash during the first quarter of fiscal 2010 and continued to reduce its secured borrowings balance, which was $108.8 million at the end of the quarter, down $3.3 million compared to the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. Mark Fusco, Chief Executive Officer of AspenTech, said the company is continuing with its plan to begin the process of seeking a relisting of its common stock on a major US stock exchange during the first calendar quarter of 2010.

Founded in 1981,  the company emerged as an entity from a joint research project between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and US Department of Energy—an Advanced System for Process Engineering (ASPEN) Project. It was delisted from the NASDAQ on February 19, 2008 for failing to meet financial transparency guidelines of the NASDAQ exchange, according to Wikipedia. AspenTech supplies software that optimizes process manufacturing for energy,  chemicals, pharmaceuticals, engineering and construction, and other industries that manufacture and produce products from a chemical process. Its integrated aspenONE solutions, process manufacturers can implement best practices for optimizing their engineering, manufacturing and supply chain operations, thereby being better able to increase capacity, improve margins, reduce costs and become more energy efficient. .