Sungard has reported a 15% decline in organic revenue from its financial services business in the third quarter and warned of an ongoing deterioration in its broker-dealer operations.
The privately-held firm says that approximately eight per cent of the decrease in organic revenue was attributable to "one of our broker/dealer businesses".
The vendor says revenue from this part of the business has been uncharacteristically high, reflecting a function of market volatility and customer mix.
In a statement, the company warns of more bad news on the horizon: "The largest customer in this business has given us notice that it plans to decrease its use of our services beginning in the first quarter of 2010 as a result of impending regulatory changes. The estimated annual impact of this customer departure is approximately $384 million in revenue and $35-$40 million in income from operations."
Total Financial Systems revenue decreased 6% to $724 million for the quarter. License fees were $38 million for the quarter, an increase of $3 million compared to the same quarter in 2008.
Cristóbal Conde, president and chief executive officer, says the spending mood is trending to the positive, but sales cycles remain long.
"Customers are still looking to reduce their spending on core platforms that are not in growth businesses, but at the same time they are reallocating these savings to discretionary budgets to go after growth opportunities," he comments. "Our ability to bundle and cross-sell solutions makes us very competitive."