Agile Software Lowers Fourth-Quarter Guidance

Agile Software (AGIL Quote) said Tuesday that it expects to miss Wall Street's fourth-quarter expectations, a disclosure that came a day after the company terminated its planned merger with Ariba (ARBA Quote).

For the fourth quarter ending April 30, Agile expects to lose 3 cents to 6 cents a share, down from the year-ago loss of 2 cents a share. Eleven analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call expect the company to earn 2 cents a share.

Agile projected fourth-quarter revenue of $26 million to $27 million, up from $10.8 million in the same quarter one year ago. Analysts expect the company to report a top line of $28.1 million.

The company also said it expects to take a charge of roughly $5 million because of the terminated merger with Ariba. On Monday, Ariba, a business-to-business software maker, issued a dramatic revenue and profit warning, saying that it would record just $90 million in sales for the first quarter, half of what analysts expected. As a result, the companies halted their planned merger.

Agile also believes it will face a "significant" one-time charge related to investments and the possible write-down of goodwill from 1999 acquisition of Digital Market.

"We are mindful that in the last few months economic conditions have declined very rapidly and that many IT companies were not able to close expected business in the last month of their quarter, which negatively impacted their results," the company said. "There can be no assurance that the same thing won't happen to Agile."

Additionally, the company, which is based in San Jose, Calif., adopted a shareholder rights plan, which is commonly referred to as a poison pill. The move is designed to make a hostile takeover attempt prohibitively expensive for the aggressor, but Agile said it wasn't aware of any unsolicited bids.