VMware profit declines by more than half

VMware profit slid by 54 per cent during the third quarter

Virtualisation software specialist VMware remains confident about trading despite posting a fall in profits of almost 54 per cent.

It attributes the profit fall to its $356m (£215m) purchase of cloud computing technology firm SpringSource earlier this month.

While revenue was $490m (£296m), a slight increase of four per cent on 2008's figures, profit at the firm was $38m (£23m), down from the $83m (£50m) reported for the same period last year.

Despite this, the company said it has "improved visibility" into the business and hopes the next two quarters will "follow seasonal patterns".

Expectations for fourth-quarter revenue range from $540m (£326m) to $560m (£338m), ahead of the $523m (£316m) it predicted.

“VMware is well positioned to offer its customers a superior platform for both private and public cloud environments," said the company's president and chief executive officer, Paul Maritz.

"As our portfolio grows in the fourth quarter with the anticipated release of VMware View 4 for the desktop, we expect customers to increasingly turn to VMware to help them simplify IT.”