Oracle likely to miss target

NEWS Database market leader, Oracle, warned on Friday that profits are likely to remain flat for the coming three months. Oracle had originally forecast a slight growth quarter-on-quarter giving shareholders a dividend of 10 cents a share. If met revised estimates would generate 9 cents a share for investors. CEO Larry Ellison said in a statement: "While software sales in the US and Europe increased slightly over the second quarter, that increase was not enough to offset a slowdown in Asia. Oracle will report its third quarter earnings on 14 March.