Western Europe Software Sales Reach $522 Million in First Quarter, 1994

Unit Sales Increase 59%

June 20, 1994 (Washington, DC) -- The Software Publishers Association (SPA)
announced today that software sales in Western Europe reached $522.4
million in the first quarter of 1994, a 10% increase from the first
quarter of 1993. Unit sales for the period were up 59% compared to the
first quarter of 1993.

Software price declines in Europe were responsible for limiting growth in
all operating system categories. Application unit sales increased in all
but one of the six operating system categories tracked, but the increases
were not enough to offset price declines. Only Windows applications
revenues increased year-over-year, increasing 26% to $435.7 million.
Windows applications accounted for 83% of application sales in Western
Europe, up from 72% in Q1 1993. DOS applications declined 43% to $52.0
million, and Macintosh applications declined 9% to $30.7 million.

Both word processors and spreadsheets recorded 20% growth of revenues
year-over-year. They remained the largest and second largest software
categories in Europe. Relational database sales in Europe were down 31%
from the year earlier period. Some part of that decline can be explained
by high sales in the prior year period, where sales were swelled by major
product introductions.

The UK/Ireland region displaced Germany/Austria as the largest region this
quarter, with sales of $141.9 million, an increase of 22% from the first
quarter of 1993. Germany/Austria sales declined 7% to $139.4 million.
France remained the third largest Western European region, with total
sales declining 10% to $73.1 million. Italy again took the prize as the
fastest growing region, with software sales up 104% to $33.9 million.

                         1Q94 Sales of
                         Participating      Growth 1Q93
                       Firms (Millions)       to 1Q94
                       ----------------     -----------
   Benelux                  $ 40.1              25%
   France                     73.1             (10%)
   Germany/Austria           139.4              (7%)
   Greece                      0.86             59%
   Italy                      33.9             104%
   Nordic                     25.2              (7%)
   Spain/Portugal             11.7             (22%)
   Sweden                     24.0              18%
   Switzerland                32.1              59%
   UK/Ireland                141.9              22%

      TOTAL                 $522.9              10%

"The results in Italy this quarter again show the benefit of the Italian
government's efforts to promote the legal purchase of software," said
Gerard Gabella, Managing Director of SPA Europe. "Italy implemented the EU
Directive on software copyright protection in December, 1992, and started
taking action against software theft in the spring of 1993. Since that
time, Italy has had the highest rate of growth of all European software
markets. The sales increases help demonstrate just how much the industry
looses to piracy each year, and how much can be gained by active
enforcement of intellectual property laws."

Forty primarily US-based software firms participated in the SPA's data
program by submitting confidential data to the accounting firm of Arthur
Andersen, which prepared the report for the SPA. Among the participants
are: Aldus, Borland, Claris, Lotus, Microsoft, Software Publishing,
Symantec, and WordPerfect. The data was collected in 36 software
categories (including word processors, spreadsheets, presentation
graphics, and others) and in six operating systems (including DOS,
Macintosh, and Windows).

The Software Publishers Association is the principal trade association of
the PC software industry. Its over 1,100 members represent the leading
publishers in the business, consumer, and education markets. The SPA has
offices in Washington, DC, and Paris, France.

Software Publishers Association
1730 M St, Northwest, Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20036
202-452-1600,  Fax: 202-223-8756

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