Dassault Systèmes missed its revenue goals in the first quarter, stymied, as in the fourth quarter, by customers’ deferred purchase decisions in a widening recession. The PLM software provider today reported preliminary first-quarter revenue of €310 million, up 1% from year-earlier revenue of €307.9 million, though down 6% in constant currencies. The figure was off from a revenue objective of €325 to €335 million. The preliminary numbers do not conform to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the company noted. Dassault said its software revenue decreased 5% year over year, with new licenses down a whopping 40%, though recurring software revenue rose 15%, all in constant currencies. “In the current economic environment, what we’re seeing is mainly a delay in decision making,” company President and CEO Bernard Charlès told analysts on a conference call Thursday. “What we observed in the fourth quarter in certain regions has become global as a kind of behavior, with more companies postponing decisions to a later date when they have more visibility on their businesses.” Those delayed decisions are occurring across the board, in every product line and region, and echo Dassault’s experience in the fourth quarter of 2008. Charlès said that the company nevertheless continues to pick up market share. In response to an analyst’s question, he ventured to guess that Dassault’s share this year would increase slightly more than it did in 2008, which was just more than 1%. To offset the top-line deficits, the company has accelerated a cost savings plan put in place in 2008, and reported that it squeezed out more than €15 million of additional savings in the first quarter, compared with earlier projections. Executives said the company is on track to deliver an additional €80 million to €90 million of incremental savings in 2009, compared with its earlier stated goal. The company did not reveal total earnings, which it will divulge when it delivers its full quarterly report on April 30. However, it said that its non-IFRS earnings per share were roughly €0.37, in line with its forecast of €0.36 to €0.42. Thibault de Tersant, Dassault’s executive vice president and CFO, told analysts that “software revenue tracked to our expectations.” He noted that the recession has worsened since the fourth quarter of 2008, particularly in Asia, where business was down 11% year over year, compared with 4% in Q4. In the Americas, business declined 10% vs. flat sales in Q4, while in Europe, year-over-year comparisons were flat in both Q4 and Q1. Even as Dassault is working to cut costs, Charlès said, it is investing in R&D and working with customers and partners to expand into new markets with a broad portfolio of products. He pointed to a number of customer wins in the quarter, including BMW and Procter & Gamble. Charles also said that replacing legacy systems is an area where Dassault can mine additional business.