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Oracle eyes challenges
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June 18, 1998: 9:33 a.m. ET
CFO says company still faces year-2000, Asia problems in year ahead
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Oracle Corp.'s financial chief said year-2000 issues and financial worries in Asia will continue to plague the computer database powerhouse for at least another year, despite the company's continued financial success.
Oracle reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter profits Wednesday, beating analyst estimates by 3 cents a share.
Jeff Henley, Oracle chief financial officer, told CNNfn's "Digital Jam" late Wednesday that despite surprisingly strong revenues from the company's database business, year-2000 concerns will continue to have a negative effect.
"In our core business, our database business, it's definitely had an effect this year on our license business and probably will for maybe another year," he said.
Henley added it probably will "come down to the wire" before all year-2000 issues are completely tackled and customers are confident enough to commit to making big purchases.
While Oracle continues to thrive financially, Henley said, the economic problems in Asia also will continue to plague the company.
"I don't think we know where the bottom is," Henley said. "We've had several quarters in a row where each quarter gets worse. We've been assuming things probably won't pick up a lot for another year or two and we try to plan our expenses accordingly."
Henley also said that while he believes the U.S. Treasury Department's intervention in the foreign exchange market on behalf of the yen was a positive step toward reversing the Asian financial crisis, it isn't a permanent solution. [240K WAV] or [240K AIFF]
Oracle (ORCL) shares closed Wednesday up 1/16 at 24-5/16. 
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Oracle Corp.
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