Ashton-Tate Links Loss to Failed Program

Blaming its continuing failure to ship a corrected new version for its popular dBase software program, Ashton-Tate said Wednesday that it lost $1 million in the first quarter on sales that declined 25% from the prior year.

Sales were $57 million, compared to $89.8 million last year, when profits were $11.5 million.

It was the fourth consecutive quarterly loss for the Torrance company that has been plagued with problems since releasing an error-riddled update of its franchise-making dBase program in October, 1988. That prompted analysts to revive speculation about the ability of the company to remain independent.

Ashton-Tate Chairman Edward Esber on Wednesday did not rule out the possibility of a merger.

Noting the pending merger of Lotus Development and Novell into what would be the industry’s largest operation, Esber said Ashton-Tate could be attractive to the right partner.

“I wouldn’t rule out anything,” Esber said, adding that the company has 5 million users of its dBase programs and that at its current market valuation, the company’s stock is selling for about $70 per user. “That’s less than the cost of a sales call.”