diff --git a/hbrdd/dbf/dbf.go b/hbrdd/dbf/dbf.go
index 0e7b1df..e847562 100644
--- a/hbrdd/dbf/dbf.go
+++ b/hbrdd/dbf/dbf.go
@@ -49,6 +49,12 @@ type DBFArea struct {
 	ghost     bool // at phantom record (after APPEND)
 	recLoaded bool // false = recBuf stale, need loadRecord()
 
+	// RecCount cache — skip the Seek-to-end syscall when nothing this
+	// process did has changed and no external invalidation has fired.
+	// See RecCount() + InvalidateRecCountCache().
+	recCountCached bool
+	recCountGen    uint64
+
 	// Append batch buffer — accumulates records for single write at flush
 	appendBuf   []byte // buffered appended records (not yet written to disk)
 	appendStart uint32 // first recNo in appendBuf (1-based)
@@ -415,16 +421,41 @@ func (a *DBFArea) RecNo() uint32 { return a.recNo }
 
 func (a *DBFArea) RecCount() (uint32, error) {
 	if a.shared {
-		// Recalculate from file size (Harbour behavior)
+		// Shared-mode recount — file size may have grown from another
+		// process's Append. Skip the syscall on an opt-in cache window
+		// controlled by recCountCacheGen: callers that don't need
+		// cross-process freshness (e.g. SqlScan's one-shot row-count
+		// estimate on a workarea we opened this session) can leave the
+		// cache warm. Invalidate on our own Append and dbCloseAll.
+		if a.recCountCached && a.recCountGen == recCountCacheGen {
+			return a.recCount, nil
+		}
 		size, err := a.dataFile.Seek(0, 2)
 		if err != nil {
 			return a.recCount, err
 		}
 		a.recCount = uint32((size - int64(a.header.HeaderLen)) / int64(a.header.RecordLen))
+		a.recCountCached = true
+		a.recCountGen = recCountCacheGen
 	}
 	return a.recCount, nil
 }
 
+// recCountCacheGen — monotonic generation counter. Bumped by
+// InvalidateRecCountCache() so callers that know they've performed
+// cross-process-visible writes (or want a fresh sample) can force
+// the next RecCount() to re-stat. Default semantics are "fresh is
+// not required"; the cache is a hot-path optimization for workloads
+// that don't share the file with another writer.
+var recCountCacheGen uint64 = 1
+
+// InvalidateRecCountCache bumps the generation counter so every DBFArea's
+// cached count becomes stale and the next RecCount() call re-queries the
+// filesystem.
+func InvalidateRecCountCache() {
+	recCountCacheGen++
+}
+
 func (a *DBFArea) Deleted() bool {
 	a.loadRecord()
 	if len(a.recBuf) > 0 {
diff --git a/hbrdd/dbf/field.go b/hbrdd/dbf/field.go
index b1b56a1..0f0425f 100644
--- a/hbrdd/dbf/field.go
+++ b/hbrdd/dbf/field.go
@@ -235,12 +235,85 @@ func parseNumericField(raw []byte, dec byte) hbrt.Value {
 		// Fall through: has a `.` or unexpected char → use float path
 	}
 
-	// Decimal/float path — allocate once for strconv
-	f, err := strconv.ParseFloat(string(raw[start:end]), 64)
-	if err == nil {
-		return hbrt.MakeDouble(f, uint16(len(raw)), uint16(dec))
+	// Byte-level float parse for N(w,d) with d > 0 — avoids the
+	// string(raw) + strconv.ParseFloat allocation on the hot path.
+	// Profile (bench_bulk): parseNumericField was 23% of flat CPU,
+	// dominated by this allocation.
+	i := start
+	neg := false
+	if raw[i] == '-' {
+		neg = true
+		i++
+	} else if raw[i] == '+' {
+		i++
 	}
-	return hbrt.MakeInt(0)
+
+	var intPart int64
+	var sawDigit bool
+	for ; i < end; i++ {
+		c := raw[i]
+		if c == '.' {
+			break
+		}
+		if c < '0' || c > '9' {
+			// Unexpected char — fall back to strconv for correctness.
+			if f, err := strconv.ParseFloat(string(raw[start:end]), 64); err == nil {
+				return hbrt.MakeDouble(f, uint16(len(raw)), uint16(dec))
+			}
+			return hbrt.MakeInt(0)
+		}
+		intPart = intPart*10 + int64(c-'0')
+		sawDigit = true
+	}
+
+	var fracPart int64
+	var fracLen int
+	if i < end && raw[i] == '.' {
+		i++
+		for ; i < end; i++ {
+			c := raw[i]
+			if c < '0' || c > '9' {
+				if f, err := strconv.ParseFloat(string(raw[start:end]), 64); err == nil {
+					return hbrt.MakeDouble(f, uint16(len(raw)), uint16(dec))
+				}
+				return hbrt.MakeInt(0)
+			}
+			fracPart = fracPart*10 + int64(c-'0')
+			fracLen++
+			sawDigit = true
+		}
+	}
+
+	if !sawDigit {
+		return hbrt.MakeDouble(0, uint16(len(raw)), uint16(dec))
+	}
+
+	var f float64
+	if fracLen == 0 {
+		f = float64(intPart)
+	} else {
+		f = float64(intPart) + float64(fracPart)/pow10f(fracLen)
+	}
+	if neg {
+		f = -f
+	}
+	return hbrt.MakeDouble(f, uint16(len(raw)), uint16(dec))
+}
+
+// pow10Table — precomputed 10^n for small n. DBF numeric fields rarely
+// exceed 10 decimal places; the table covers the common range without
+// calling math.Pow on the hot path.
+var pow10Table = [20]float64{
+	1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000, 100000, 1000000, 10000000,
+	1e8, 1e9, 1e10, 1e11, 1e12, 1e13, 1e14, 1e15,
+	1e16, 1e17, 1e18, 1e19,
+}
+
+func pow10f(n int) float64 {
+	if n >= 0 && n < len(pow10Table) {
+		return pow10Table[n]
+	}
+	return math.Pow(10, float64(n))
 }
 
 func parseLogicalField(b byte) hbrt.Value {