In the three months to September 30, Unisys made a net loss of $77.5m, compared to a loss of $1.63bn in the same period of the previous year. However, results for the third quarter of 2005 included a $1.57bn charge resulting from an increase in Unisys’ deferred tax asset valuation allowance.

While Unisys’ quarterly sales were up 1.7% on the previous year at $1.41bn, the company admitted that on a constant-currency basis, revenue was essentially flat. Unisys grew its IT services sales by 3.7% to $1.22bn, but hardware sales fell 9.7% to $192.5m. In the first nine months of 2006, the company’s hardware sales fell 12.6% to $586.7m.

According to Unisys, its quarterly results include a pre-tax charge of $36.4m to cover ongoing staff cuts. So far this year, the company has reduced its headcount by 3,600, including 1,400 cuts in the third quarter. Unisys has forecast that these measures will result in annualized cost savings of approximately $280m by the end of the year and more than $340m by the second half of 2007.