WDAY Workday Inc

Business software provider Workday Inc. reported revenue climbed more than a third, but the company's loss was wider than expected in the face of rising expenses.

Shares of Workday, up 15% over the past year, rose 2.1% to $81.39 in after-hours trading Wednesday.

For the current quarter the company said it expects total revenue between $398 million and $400 million, less than the $401 million analysts cited by Thomson Reuters forecast. The company projects subscription sales during the period in the range of $331 million to $333 million.

The provider of human-resource and finance software has been posting losses in recent quarters as the company has sought to expand. For the three-month period ended July 31, total costs and expenses rose to $464.6 million from $350.3 million a year earlier.

Subscription service sales during the same period rose 37% to $306.2 million.

Overall, the company posted a loss of $108 million, or 55 cents a share, compared with a loss of $69.4 million, or 37 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding certain items, the company posted a loss of 4 cents a share, compared with 2 cents a year earlier. Analysts, on average, were expecting an adjusted loss of 2 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Revenue rose 34% to $377.7 million from $282.7 million a year ago. Sales were stronger than expected, with the company previously projecting revenue of $371 million to $373 million, and analysts were expecting $373 million, on average.

Write to Ezequiel Minaya at ezequiel.minaya@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 24, 2016 17:15 ET (21:15 GMT)

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