SCO Group delays its 2003 report

SCO Group Inc., the Lindon-based software maker seeking royalties from companies using Linux programs, will issue 2003 financial results two weeks later than planned because the company needs more time to account for a share sale.

Results will be issued Dec. 22 instead of Monday, after the accounting and conversion valuation for a sale of convertible preferred shares is finished, the company said Friday in a statement. SCO sold the $50 million in convertible stock to BayStar Capital, based in Larkspur, Calif., in October.

The accounting won't affect SCO's revenue or cash balance, and the company still expects to say sales rose to $22 million to $25 million in the quarter ended Oct. 31 from $15.5 million a year earlier. SCO is demanding fees from Linux users and is suing International Business Machines Corp. over copyrights.

SCO said last month that it had $17.7 million in fourth- quarter expenses to pay David Boies's law firm and other attorneys. Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP and other law firms will get $1 million in cash and 400,000 SCO shares, in addition to the purchased convertible shares. Boies's firm represented former U.S. Vice President Al Gore during the fight over the 2000 Florida presidential results.

SCO shares fell 5 cents to close at $16.59 Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. They have risen more than 11-fold this year.

SCO's fourth-quarter profit was similar to the third quarter's 19 cents a share because of the attorney costs, spokesman Blake Stowell said today. The net loss was 26 cents in the fourth quarter a year earlier. The company doesn't give profit forecasts, Stowell said.