Red Hat Reports Fiscal Third Quarter Results

1 January 1970

Red Hat, Inc. (NASDAQ: RHAT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions to the enterprise, today announced financial results for the third quarter ended November 30, 2004.

Revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2005 was $50.9 million, 55% higher than the third quarter of fiscal 2004 and a sequential increase of 10% when compared to $46.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2005. Subscription revenue was $39.2 million, or 80% higher than the third quarter of fiscal 2004 and a sequential increase of 12% when compared to the previous quarter.

For the third quarter of fiscal 2005, the company reported income before taxes of $11.3 million compared to income before taxes of $11.2 million in the prior quarter, and $4.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2004.

For the third quarter of fiscal 2005, the company reported net income of $10.8 million, or $0.06 per share, after taxes of $0.4 million. This represents an increase in net income of 155% compared to the same quarter a year ago, and a decrease of 8% compared to net income of $11.8 million, or $0.06 per share in the prior quarter, when a tax benefit of $0.6 million was recognized.

The company generated $29.7 million in cash flow from operations during the third quarter of fiscal 2005. After investing $45.2 million to purchase 3.4 million treasury shares, the company ended the quarter with cash and investments totaling $979 million.

In the third quarter of fiscal 2005, the company increased its deferred revenue balance to $121.4 million, a sequential increase of $21.7 million, or 22%, as compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2005, and a 170% increase when compared to a year ago.

Highlights for the third quarter include:

-- Sales of subscriptions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux reached 132,000 units, including 119,000 subscriptions to enterprise IT servers and 13,000 subscriptions to the HPC/hosting marketplace and desktops. All these numbers represent net new and renewed subscriptions.

-- Income from operations increased to $7.6 million, or 15% of total revenue.

-- Enterprise subscription gross margins remained strong at 91%; overall gross margins were 80%.

-- The company added 10% to the workforce, principally in customer facing sales and support positions, as the company expands globally.

"We are pleased with our progress and continued growth. We are focusing on those things that bring value to our customers globally, and that make it easier for them to do business with us. We believe that our results reflect continued improvements and validation of our subscription model," stated Charlie Peters, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

Forward-Looking Statements

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for the Company, including statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the factors discussed in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC (a copy of which may be accessed through the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov), reliance upon strategic relationships, management of growth, the possibility of undetected software errors, our ability to adequately maintain effective systems of internal and disclosure controls, the risks of economic downturns generally, and in Red Hat's industry specifically, the risks associated with competition and competitive pricing pressures and the viability of the Internet. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release.