Dell Q3 profit drops 54 per cent

San Francisco, Nov 20: PC maker Dell Inc on Thursday, Nov 19, reported its third quarter profit fell 54 per cent, as revenue dropped amid global market share loss and weak corporate demand.

Dell's net income for the three months to Oct 30 was US$337 million down from $727 million in the same quarter in 2008, the company said.

Gross margin for the quarter fell to 17.3 pc from 18.8 pc in 2008, while operating margin declined to 4.5 pc from 6.7 pc.

Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden said, "Dell saw some encouraging signs and that business had started to improve in some commercial markets."

He also saod, "Sales in its enterprise and small-business segments, while down year-over-year, were up sequentially for the first time in seven quarters."

"While we've been talking about demand stabilizing in prior quarters, we're now seeing signs of improvement in some markets, including key commercial markets worldwide," he added.

OneIndia News