Ariba’s Loss Narrows, but Sales Drop

Ariba Inc., a maker of Internet-commerce software, said its fiscal fourth-quarter loss narrowed while sales fell by more than half. The company expects sales this quarter to miss analysts’ estimates.

The loss in the quarter ended Sept. 30 narrowed to $224.3 million, or 89 cents a share, from $339.3 million, or $1.50 a share, a year earlier, the company said.Sales fell to $62.6 million from $134.9 million.

The company is forecast to have sales this quarter of $60.4 million, the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call.

Excluding some items, the company said it would have had a loss of $27.7 million, or 11 cents a share, in the recent quarter.

On that basis, Ariba was forecast to have a loss of 13 cents, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

The company said it had costs of $141.2 million for amortization of goodwill and $63.5 million for restructuring.

Total operating expenses last quarter fell 39% to $277.1 million from $455.8 million.