Red Hat revenue up 12 per cent

Red Hat – revenue up, profits much less so

Open source firm Red Hat posted its second quarter results for 2010 today, showing revenue up year on year by 12 per cent.

Total revenue for Q2 was $183.6m (£113m), up from last year's quarter figure of $156.3m (£97m). Profits increased 37 per cent from $21.1m (£13m) to $28.9m (£18m). But this was mostly due to what Red Hat called 'a discrete tax benefit' of $7.3m (£4.5m), so without it profit shows a modest two per cent rise.

Subscription revenue increased year on year to £156.3m (£97m), a 15 per cent rise. Red Hat chief financial officer Charlie Peters said: "We're particularly pleased with the growth of the current portion of deferred revenue, combined with the lengthening of our average subscription duration."

Red Hat also repurchased 2.3 million shares of common stock, valued at $47m (£29m).