Buried in the tenth paragraph of yesterday’s Autodesk press release about quarterly financial results, after the sub-headline “Full Year Fiscal Review” is the modest statement, “Fiscal 2005 revenues increased 30 percent over last year to $1.234 billion.” They may be saying it quietly in the official statement, but you have to believe champagne corks were popping all over Marin County, California when the results became official. Autodesk has finally topped the $1 billion sales mark.
In December I wrote:
Becoming a $1 billion company (annual sales) has been both Autodesk's goal and haunting spectre for years. When final results for the fiscal year that ends in January come in, Autodesk should have finally reached that once-lofty goal.
The final quarter of fiscal 2005 (February 2004 through January 2005) was a great one for Autodesk in many ways. Company CEO Carol Bartz told analysts Tuesday that Autodesk “is gaining market share in all key markets,” that “demand continues to be strong,” and that new seat revenue grew by 41 percent. Subscription revenue, still a sore issue for many Autodesk customers, grew surprisingly well, up 54% over last year.
For the fourth quarter, Autodesk reported net revenues of $356 million, a 21 percent increase over $295 million reported in the fourth quarter of the prior year.
"Autodesk executed flawlessly again this quarter," Bartz is quoted in the official announcement of quarterly results. "We had an outstanding year, exceeding all of our financial projections. Our results demonstrate that our strategies are working, our product portfolio is strong, and our customers are satisfied."
In December I also wrote:
Now the company is preparing for expansion, and is building a corporate structure to support it. I think we can expect three or four significant product and company acquisitions in the coming year.
That prediction was partially fulfilled last week with the announcement that Autodesk is buying COMPASS, the European-based creator of data management software solutions for manufacturing. The technology acquired from COMPASS will strengthen Autodesk’s nascent ‘PLM for the rest of us’ strategy. Right now Autodesk’s PLM line is aimed at their manufacturing customers, but I think AEC will see some useful spillover in the next two or three years. (I’ve written more about the Autodesk acquisition of COMPASS for CADwire.net.)
Buying COMPASS is a good move for Autodesk, but it isn’t the blockbuster acquisition I think they will make this year. I’m not ready to speculate on what company might be acquired, but fellow CAD journalist Ralph Grabowski and his readers are; they see MCAD/PLM vendor UGS as a logical catch.