Faulty capacitors and the UK down Dell

THIRD QUARTER net profit from Dell fell by 28 per cent which the firm blamed on problems with caps on Optiplex machines, shutting down offices and re-jigging its consumer plans. It still made a lot of Dell Dollars, however.

Sales rose to $13.91 billion for the quarter but that's the slowest they've risen for three years. One thousand jobs will go with many of these in its American sales and consumer organisation.

Dell put a brave face on the quarter by saying it had record shipments of 9.2 million units worldwide. Services grew by 36%, 35% on storage and 16% on servers.

It said that sales outside the USA rose by 20% compared to the same quarter last year, accounting for 40% of Dell worldwide revenues.

Kevin Rollins, the firm's CEO, said Dell was "always looking for better ways to imrpove the efficiencies of our business." Changes it's making will reduce complexity and cost, he said. Dell blamed the UK for soft sales, but earlier this week it, and other high tech firms were roundly criticised for focusing only on short term goals.

Mary Flavelle, an executive member of Bracknell's chamber of commerce, said she was unhappy with cuts Dell made at its UK HQ. The local paper said Dell had had its knuckles rapped, saying IT companies have a "hiring and firing lifestyle".

She criticised Dell for taking a project based view to business. We'd like to see how Kevin Rollins fared against Mary face-to-face. We suspect he'd lose the debate. µ

L'INQ
Berkshire newspaper

See Also
Dell is no Fabergé in your Dresden collection