Oracle says: 'Don't expect a recovery just yet'

NEWS Oracle has issued a gloomy forecast for the European high-tech sector. Despite the odd sign of recovery, the database giant is convinced that growth in the market over the next couple of years will be well below the historic rates of 10 to 15 per cent. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Sergio Giacoletto, Oracle's European chief, said: "I don't see a major external reason to see a surge in IT spending." Business software sales will increase, he added, but at "low, single-digit growth rates". However, in typical Oracle style, he insisted that his employer will thrive despite the tricky economic conditions, and grow faster than the industry as a whole. "We think we will do this by taking market share from smaller software players," he said in the interview. Businesses are now buying software once more, he went on to claim, but are doing so much more cautiously than in recent times. "Today the deals are much smaller. They want to do a small project first, to make sure it works," he said.