REUTERS: Micro Focus International, a British software business, announced a reduced first-half deficit on Thursday as it cut costs and set aside US$70 million to settle a patent infringement case with Wapp in the United States. The company, which assists customers with legacy IT system maintenance and integration, reported a statutory operating loss from continuing operations of US$154.8 million, compared to a loss of US$906.7 million a year ago.
“Despite the difficulty of implementing this inside the confines of a global lockdown, our recovery programme and specifically our systems change are advancing as expected,” stated Stephen Murdoch, who took over as CEO in 2018.
After the costly and challenging integration of its US$8.8 billion acquisition of HPE’s software assets resulted in an impairment charge of around US$2.8 billion, Micro Focus initiated a three-year turnaround plan in 2020.
Following the 2017 HPE acquisition, the company announced on Thursday that it had recently converted to a single IT platform, but that it would continue to suffer duplication expenditures until the system was completely operational.
Micro Focus announced in March that it would appeal a Texas jury ruling ordering it to pay Wapp group US$172.5 million in damages in a patent case.
(Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru contributed reporting; Aditya Soni edited the piece.)/n
