Dell bucks industry trend with sales boost

By Steve Malone

Posted on 16 Aug 2002 at 11:32

Dell Computer, the number two PC hardware manufacturer, blew away the gloom surrounding the rest of the computer business with an 18% rise in worldwide product shipments in the second quarter.

This compares with an industry average decline of 4%. The rise in shipments was led by an 18% rise in PowerEdge servers and 17% rise in notebooks. In the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (EMEA) Dell achieved a 5% increase in shipments against an industry average decline of 3%.

By pressing the cost advantage of its direct, build-to-order model it pushed revenues on the quarter rose $8.5 billion, up 11% on last year and a 16% rise in income over the quarter to $501 million.

Recently Dell lost its number one position in the market to Hewlett-Packard after the company took over Compaq Computer although many analysts are predicting that Dell will be soon be back on top. In a conference call to journalists Michael Dell confirmed rumours that the company is "likely" to launch into the printer and PDA markets - two product strongholds of the Hewlett-Packard/Compaq business, although he was cagey about when the launches might actually be.