dBase Sales Push Ashton-Tate Net to 2-Year High

Citing strong sales of its flagship dBase personal computer software, Ashton-Tate Corp. on Wednesday reported a first-quarter profit of $3.1 million, its largest quarterly profit in two years.

In the previous year’s quarter, the Torrance software publisher lost $1 million. Revenue for the latest quarter was $62.9 million, about 10% higher than the $57 million recorded the year before.

The company said sales of its latest version, dBase 4.1, rose 97% from the prior year, and sales of that product, as well as other dBase versions, accounted for 79% of the company’s total revenue.

“We are pleased,” said William Lyons, president and chief executive. “We have made good progress in reducing costs . . . and this has improved the quarter’s profitability.”

However, Lyons said, the company remains cautious about the future because of the continuing weak economies in several countries, including the United States, Canada and England.

Ashton-Tate has suffered in recent years as dBase sagged following the introduction of a fault-riddled version in late 1988. The following year, the company blamed sagging sales of the product for a variety of problems that eventually caused losses of more than $50 million in the ensuing year and a half.