The world’s third largest computer manufacturer Dell reported global fourth quarter revenues of US$13.5bn, up 17pc on the same quarter a year ago. Worldwide revenue growth from servers and storage systems accelerated from the last quarter, increasing 20pc year over year.
Dell’s fourth-quarter profits were US$667m or 26 cents per share, which included a tax charge of 11 cents per share. The charge was taken in anticipation of repatriating foreign earnings at a one-time favorable tax rate under the US American Jobs Creation Act, 2004. For the full fiscal year of 2005 Dell reported a 19pc revenue increase to US$49.2bn.
“The quarter represents continued record performance by our team around the world,” said Kevin Rollins, Dell’s chief executive officer. “No one has higher expectations for Dell over time than we do, and we’re constantly driving for excellence on behalf of customers and shareholders.”
Rollins said the company expects Dell first-quarter fiscal 2006 product shipments to increase 21pc. The resulting company volumes should produce quarterly revenue of about US$13.4bn, up 16pc from the prior year, and earnings per share of about 37 cents, up 32pc.
In the fourth quarter, Dell’s operating margins improved to 8.8pc, up from 8.5pc a year ago. The company generated US$1.8bn in cash flow from operations and total cash and investments at quarter end was US$14.1bn, a company record.
Total volume increases for all products worldwide were 19pc, nearly seven points faster than the industry excluding Dell.
Fourth quarter unit shipments in EMEA increased 29pc. Shipments of enterprise systems, including servers, were up 30pc and notebook computer volumes rose 34pc. Dell finished the quarter with more than a 10pc share in EMEA, closing the gap on the current industry leader IBM by nearly two percentage points. Unit shipments and revenue for the full year increased 31pc and 27pc, respectively.
By John Kennedy
