Dassault: Our Plan to Fight the Recession

With new license revenue down 2% year-over-year and "a fairly large sequential drop in [SolidWorks] units from second to third quarter", Dassault Systemes explained during its quarterly conference call last week how they would fight the recession -- code words for how to keep up profits. 

Spend their cash hoard? No, for "we are sitting on the suitcase and we don't plan to open it."

Look for new customers? Not crucial, since income from annual licenses amounts to 67% of software revenue and 71% for PLM revenue.

Offer customers low-cost loans? No, for "we don't have plans to start becoming a bank for our customers, but we have available worldwide rental conditions for our licenses."

Offer customers a cheaper way to acquire software? Yes, for "I think the percentage of new licenses that will be rented is going to increase in the coming quarters."

Worry about competitors? No, for "what we observe is that [Siemens PLM Software] are loosing market share."

Aggressively buy-back shares? Maybe. 

Fret over dramatically fluctuating foreign exchange rates? No, for "if ForEx were to stay what it is today, this would in fact have a positive impact on our margins."

Source.