By Kimberly Chin

Workday Inc.'s losses narrowed in the first quarter while revenue rose 15% as businesses continued to increase their use of cloud-based online services during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The developer of enterprise cloud applications reported a loss of $46.5 million, compared with a loss of $158.4 million in the comparable period a year earlier. Workday had a loss of 19 cents a share for the quarter, compared with a loss of 68 cents a share a year ago.

On an adjusted basis, earnings were 87 cents a share, up from 44 cents a share last year. Analysts had expected an adjusted profit of 73 cents a share, according to FactSet.

Revenue increased to $1.18 billion from $1.02 billion a year ago. Analysts were expecting revenue of $1.16 billion. Subscription revenue reached $1.03 billion, a 17% increase from the year-earlier period.

"It was a strong start to the year as more organizations turn to Workday to accelerate their digital transformation efforts and meet the evolving finance and workforce demands for a post-pandemic world," Co-Chief Executive, Co-Founder and Chairman Aneel Bhusri said in prepared remarks.

Write to Kimberly Chin at kimberly.chin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-26-21 1633ET