It seems like an eternity – in fact it was only three years ago – since Michael Dell had anything to worry about regarding his bottom line, and fiscal 1997’s stunning results won’t be giving him any new frown lines either. No-one seems to have told Dell Computer Corporation’s customers that there is any softness in the PC market, given that the fourth quarter sales were up 57% to $2.4bn, up 19% from the third quarter. For the year as a whole revenue climbed to $7.8bn, a 47% increase from fiscal 1996’s $5.3bn. Net profit nearly doubled, up by 91% to $518m, with the fourth quarter alone seeing a 170% jump, to $188m from $70m. Sales were particularly strong in the Americas, with revenues reaching $1.7bn for the quarter, led by corporate accounts in the US, which grew 32% sequentially and 67% compared with the fourth quarter of last year. Despite the sluggish European economy, Dell’s operations there topped $2bn for the first time, 62% more than the same quarter last year in France and 48% up year on year in Germany. Japan grew 60% in the quarter compared with the comparable period last year, to $476m.
