PC maker Gateway 2000 Inc reported third-quarter results that were ravaged by $113.8m in pretax charges. As a result, net loss for the quarter was $107.1m on revenue up 25% at $1.5bn, compared to net income of $60.7m, or $0.39 per share, a year ago. Of the charges, $60m stems from the Advanced Logic Research acquisition (CI No 3,186), while $45.2m was due to the write-off of an abandoned capitalized software project and related equipment. A final $8.6m resulted from the closing of a foreign office and staff reductions. Gateway says it shipped 622,000 PCs in the quarter, an increase of 31% year-over-year. North American shipments grew 31%, while Asia-Pacific rose 41% and Europe rose just 4.6%. International sales accounted for 13.4% of total sales. Liquidation of excess inventories and general price declines led average unit price for the quarter to fall 4.3% to $2,419. As a result, gross margins fell from 18.6% to 13% of sales, but inventories were reduced to $377m from $460m at the end of Q2. SGA expenses rose to $219.3m, or 14.6% of sales, from $135.6m a year ago. For the nine-month period net income was $16.9m, or $0.11 per share, on revenue up 24% at $4.32bn, against net income of $162.5m, or $1.04 per share, last year. á
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