Novell to cut staff

Computer operating-system software company Novell says fiscal third and fourth-quarter profit will fall short of analyst estimates and it is reducing staff by 5 per cent.

Novell expects profit of 1c a share in the third quarter ending in July and profit of 4c a share in the fourth quarter ending in October.

The Utah-based firm has been coping with more competition from Microsoft. Sales of packaged software to small businesses have also been falling.