Yera-on-year computer industry growth slowed to 6% in the second quarter of 1990 compared with 7.7% in first quarter, Gartner Group Inc, Stamford, Connecticut reckons. The data, which appears in the research organisation’s Yardstick Quarterly, was compiled from 234 publiclyheld companies in the fields of computers, software, peripherals, telecommunications and electronic components. Within those sectors, data processing industry growth dropped to 7.8% from 9.4% in the first quarter; for US vendors exporting worldwide, sales of microcomputers grew 14.9% in the second quarter against 15.9% in the first, and the fact that the figures are still in double digits is mainly attributable to overseas sales. Mainframe sales grew 6.4% in the second quarter, down from 9.4% in the first. The minicomputer segment, which includes high-end workstations, grew 5.2% in the second quarter, down from 5.6% in the first. Software revenue bucked the trend, growing 18.6% in the second quarter, up from 11.7% in the first quarter IBM’s software revenue growth rebounded sharply to 25.5% in the second quarter from 6.8% in the first, mainly because of price increases, but Microsoft Corp’s revenue grew by 53% down from 57.8%, while Oracle Systems Corp’s increased by 54.9%, up from 54.2%. Profitability of data processing firms, as measured by net profit margins, continued to languish for medium- and large-systems hardware vendors, with their net mar-gins falling to 3.5% for the second quarter, down from 4.6% in the first. Microcomputer vendors enjoyed an 8.6% profit margin in the second quarter, unchanged from the first but both quarters were well shy of the record high profit margin of 10.8% achieved in the fourth quarter of 1987. The most profitable segment was again software, at a 10.1% profit margin in the second quarter, down from 10.9% in the first, with Microsoft showing the highest profit margin of all software firms at 23.7% in the second quarter, down from 24.2% in the first. The slowdown was especially evident in the telecommunications sector, which saw 3.9% growth in the second quarter, down from 6.7% in the first quarter, and AT&T saw its first decline in revenue since 1987. The components sector recovered with 7.4% growth in the second quarter. The Yardstick publications Yardstick Quarterly, Top 100 Worldwide, Top 100 US and QuickFlash are available for $2,000 annual subscription.
