Oracle ends bad run as hardware losses pared Oracle ended a run of disappointing quarterly earnings reports on Wednesday, as the US database and applications software group said that its revenues and earnings had topped modest Wall Street expectations for its latest quarter. The latest figures were helped by a reduction in losses from hardware sales, which have been a drag on results since the acquisition of Sun Microsystems nearly four years ago. Mark Hurd, co-president, said that hardware sales had slipped 3 per cent but that the business was on track in the current quarter to record its first period of growth since the acquisition, as Oracle shifts its focus to more profitable engineered systems that involve selling machines already integrated with the company's software. Compared with downbeat comments after recent earnings reports, Oracle's executives struck a far more positive tone about a revival of its growth and profit margin prospects in the quarters ahead. Larry Ellison, chief executive, said that the company's 12c database, the next version of its flagship product, had produced "more interest than any database in recent memory," pointing to healthy demand next year and in 2015. The Oracle boss also predicted continuing improvements in operating profit margins as the company benefited from a rising share of more profitable hardware systems, as well as a growing dependence in its software division on higher-margin licence renewals. He said that cloud-based applications - a market in which Oracle has been playing catch-up - also looked set to deliver higher margins than traditional software sales. Recent earnings reports from the company had been overshadowed by weak economic conditions in some of its main markets, as well as uneven performance as it pushed through an overhaul of parts of its sales force. The weakness has raised fears that Oracle is losing out to a new generation of fast-growing start-ups that are better positioned for the new cloud computing markets. For the most recent quarter, to the end of November, Oracle reported revenues of $9.3bn, an increase of 2 per cent, compared with the $9.2bn analysts had expected. Pro-forma earnings per share of 69 cents were at the top end of the company's forecast of 64-69 cents and more than the 67 cents projected by Wall Street. Based on formal accounting rules, net income fell 1 per cent to $2.55bn, or 56 cents a share. Despite a stronger performance in the US and Europe, the quarter was still weighed down by weakness in Asia, where software sales dropped by 10 per cent in constant currencies.