DETROIT – Michigan’s largest native software company, Compuware Corp., on Thursday announced a management shakeup aimed at boosting sales and the company’s sagging bottom line, which dropped 10 percent in the third quarter. Wall Street trimmed Compuware’s stock price by 4 percent Friday.
Compuware said it earned $37.7 million, or 10 cents per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, down from $41.7 million, or 11 cents per share, for the same quarter in 2005. Revenue plunged 7.5 percent to $305.9 million for the 2006 period, from $330.5 million in the year ago quarter.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had projected earnings of 10 cents per share on sales of $310.3 million. Wall Street reacted to the news Friday by driving down Compuware’s share price to $8.13 a share, down from a close of $8.43 on Thursday, down 4 percent.
Compuware CEO Peter Karmanos said the company he co founded remains healthy and the changes at the executive level will help improve its bottom line. Those changes include promoting Hank Jallos, a 20-year Compuware employee, to president and chief operating officer for Compuware Products. He will be responsible for the sales and maintenance of all Compuware products.
Other top executive changes prompted the promotion of Bob Paul to president and chief operating officer of Compuware Covisint, where he will continue to oversee Covisint operations. Tommi White,who had been COO for the entire company, was demoted to president and chief operating officer for Compuware Services.
Karmanos said the management shakeup would not result in any layoffs.
