LUXEMBOURG/NUREMBERG (dpa-AFX) - Software provider Suse earned more than expected in the first fiscal quarter, thanks in part to noticeably lower costs. "We have made a strong start to the new fiscal year," group CEO Melissa Di Donato said on Thursday. The Linux operating system specialist continued to make gains, particularly with its newer cloud technology offerings, but order intake in its core business was weak. After the first quarter, the company believes it is on track to increase its operating margin this year. The SDax-listed shares of the company, which has its operational headquarters in Nuremberg, rose.

The stock rose by four percent after the start of trading, but then fell back. The shares were last quoted at 17.65 euros, still up a good one percent. However, the share price was unable to recover its significant losses of the previous day. This year, the share price has been stuck in a narrow range between around 15 and 20 euros. The record high was at the beginning of January 2022 at 43.60 euros. Suse was brought to the stock exchange in May 2021 by the Swedish financial investor EQT at 30 euros per share and is still owned by the Swedes to a good three quarters.

Overall, the picture of the results was mixed, wrote JPMorgan industry expert Toby Ogg. The weaker-than-expected order intake had slowed down, mainly because of the traditional core products around Linux operating systems. Operating profit was ahead of expectations thanks in part to efficiency gains, he said, but investors are likely to focus on weakness in business volume.

Before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and adjusted for special items, the group's operating profit rose 28 percent to $67.1 million. The corresponding margin climbed from 34 to 40 percent. The company explained this, among other things, with a restructuring in sales. Analysts on the stock market had on average expected operating profits of less than 60 million dollars. Meanwhile, sales grew by ten percent to 168.4 million dollars. Suse achieved a net profit of 6.2 million dollars, after a loss of 12.8 million dollars in the same quarter of the previous year. The management around Di Donato confirmed the forecasts.

Suse makes its business primarily with customized versions of the Linux open source operating system in companies and data centers. The company earns money, among other things, by supporting the applications. The newer, so-called emerging division deals primarily with technologies around cloud applications, for which Suse had acquired the company Rancher./men/mis/stk