Xerox Corp’s recent good fortunes continued in the third quarter, despite the strong dollar. The company reported fully-diluted earnings per share up 29% to 88 cents, and income up 28% to $320m Revenues grew 9% to $4.4bn before currency movements, but only 5% once their effect was accounted for. The emphasis now at Xerox is digital, with digital product revenues up 26% in the quarter, driven largely by growth in color copiers and printers, such as the DocuColor 40. Production publishing revenues, a result of strong demand for the 180 page per minute DocuTech Production Publisher, were also up. Digital product revenues reached 35% of total revenues in the quarter. Black and white light lens copies accounted for 51% of revenues, but only increased 1% over a weak 1996 third quarter due to continuing pricing pressures. If the dollar remains strong, adverse currency will continue the pressure on our results for the remainder of the year, said chairman and chief executive Paul Allaire. However, as we continue the roll-out of our new digital products, we are maintaining our focus on profitable revenue growth and improved productivity to deliver double digit growth, he said. During the third quarter, Xerox disposed of two of the remainig three insurance units of Taligen Holdings Inc. For the nine months, fully diluted earnings per share were up 20% to $2.57 and income was up 19% to $927m. Revenues for the period were $12.8bn compared with $12.3bn last year.
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