Software still soft

Ever since SEBL announced a surprise upside to their earnings guidance, there had been a little chatter that the software sector might finally be on the rebound. I found even this subdued excitement a bit ironic given that SPRT had a disastrous report the very same day. Anyway, this morning’s warning from JDAS could chill things out a bit:

“Despite a strong pipeline of prospects, we experienced another quarter of delayed decision making in the September period. A number of factors negatively affected closure rates, however, losses to competition was not one of them. The principal issues were delayed internal decision processes within our customers and a general lack of urgency around making certain purchase transactions. In some cases, JDA was selected but was required to enter into initial proof of concept services engagements in order to overcome risk aversion prior to formally closing the sale,” said JDA’s president and CEO Hamish Brewer.