Fourth-quarter earnings at NCR Corp. fell because of lower revenue from its database and retail automation products, the company said yesterday.
NCR said fourth-quarter net income was $72 million, compared to $105 million, in the year-ago quarter. NCR's fourth quarter ended on Dec. 31. Revenue for the quarter decreased to $1.6 billion, an 11 percent decline from the $1.79 billion during the 2000 fourth quarter.
The company said it took charges of $2 million in the fourth quarter to cover acquisition-related charges.
Dayton, OH-based NCR said data warehousing revenue fell 8 percent in the fourth quarter from the year-ago period. However, it said revenue increased 32 percent over the 2001 third quarter, and it said it sees signs of recovery in the first quarter of this year. It projects that data warehousing revenue will increase 10 percent for 2002.
Revenue for retail store automation products declined 23 percent during the fourth quarter. Revenue for this sector is expected to be down 25 percent in the first quarter compared to last year's first quarter, NCR said, but will rebound to increase 5 percent for the year compared to 2001.
The company said it had limited exposure to retailer Kmart Corp., which filed for bankruptcy Tuesday. Kmart buys checkout and data warehousing equipment and has a service contract for systems maintenance with NCR for a total exposure of less than $5 million, NCR chairman/CEO Lars Nyberg said during a conference call.
