Autodesk has strong first quarter, revenues up 4 percent

SAN RAFAEL -- Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) Thursday reported strong financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2015. Revenue was $593 million, an increase of 4 percent, compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2014. Billings were up 10 percent.

The maker of computer-aided design software for the manufacturing and entertainment industries is shifting from a proprietary software sales model to cloud-based subscriptions.

"Our year is off to an encouraging start,” said Carl Bass, Autodesk president and CEO. "We had solid first quarter results and made meaningful progress on our business model transition with the addition of over 89,000 subscriptions.

"Continued strength in our suites and architecture, engineering and construction business segment, strong demand in Asia Pacific and solid performance in our manufacturing business drove financial results above our expectations."

Late in the first quarter, the company launched AutoCAD LT, a flagship product, as a desktop subscription on a global basis.

On Wednesday, the company announced the launch of the Spark open-source software for 3-D printers and that it would start offering its own stereolithography-based mid-market 3-D printers.

"We were pleased with the initial response," said Mr. Bass. "We look forward to building on these early successes and transitioning Autodesk to an even more profitable and recurring, subscription-based model over the next four years."

Autodesk has 7,390 employees worldwide, about 600 in its San Rafael headquarters.

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