Informix Reports Wider-Than-Expected Loss

Informix Corp. reported a first-quarter loss much wider than expected on a 34% plunge in sales and said it will take a charge in the second quarter as it fires workers and scales back operations. The Menlo Park-based maker of database software also said Chief Financial Officer Alan Henricks resigned effective immediately, four months after he was named to the position. Informix, which makes software that lets companies search huge files of information and competes with Oracle Corp., warned last month that its focus on a new technology wasn’t panning out. Informix shares fell 6 cents to close at $7.25 in Nasdaq trading. The company reported a loss including charges of $140.1 million, or 93 cents a share, contrasted with net income of $15.9 million, or 10 cents, in the year-earlier period. Analysts expected a 31-cent-a-share loss. Informix, with 4,600 workers worldwide, said it plans to cut jobs mainly in its overseas operations. . . . Milpitas-based California Micro Devices Corp. reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $153,000, or 2 cents a share, compared with $1.08 million, or 10 cents, a year ago.