Dell increases revenue and earnings, lowers operating expenses

Dell today reported record fiscal first quarter revenue of $16 billion, a 9% year-over-year increase, and earnings of $0.38 per share, a 12% increase.

The results were driven by better-than-industry growth of commercial and consumer products and services, and lower operating expense as a percent of revenue.

Product shipments in the quarter increased 22%, with servers growing three times the industry rate at 21%. Storage revenue increased 15% and enhanced services revenue was up 13%. Notebook unit growth, a Dell strategic priority, rose sharply at 43% and 1.2 times the industry growth rate. Consumer units grew at more than two times the industry rate and the company increased its global share by 1.2 points to 8.8% during the quarter.

"We are executing on all points of our strategy to drive growth in every product category and in every part of the world," said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO. "These results are early signs of our progress against our five strategic priorities. Through a continued focus, we expect to continue growing faster than the industry and increase our revenue, profitability and cash flow for greater shareholder value."

Earnings per share in the quarter were affected by the following items:

* $106 million in expense, or four cents per share, related to the realignment of our business, including severance costs and facility closures;
* 26 million, or one cent per share, in amortisation expense of purchased intangible assets;
* $19 million in expense, or one cent per share, in investigation related costs;
* A $42 million increase in financing and other income, or two cents per share, related to an error in currency exchange rates from prior periods;
* $46 million, or two cents per share, reversal in the provision for employee bonuses for fiscal 2008; and,
* A reduction in a litigation reserve related to a favourable ruling in a patent case of $55 million, or two cents per share.

Dell's headcount has been reduced by 7 000 in the past year - including a reduction of about 3 700 in the first quarter - or 8% before the impact of acquisitions. Dell has added about 2 700 employees through acquisitions, making the net reduction for the company about 5%.

Operating expenses were 12.9% of revenue for the quarter. Cash flow from operations was $143 million and impacted by lower payables and tax and bonus payments. The company still expects to generate cash flow from operations in excess of net income on an annualised basis. Dell ended the quarter with $9.8 billion in cash and investments and weighted average shares were 2.04 billion.

In the quarter, Dell issued $1.5 billion in private placement and medium- and long-term notes to be used for general corporate purposes. Dell spent more than $1 billion to repurchase 52 million shares of stock and plans to spend at least $1 billion on share repurchase in the second quarter.

Revenue from outside the United States during the quarter surpassed revenue from the US for the first time. BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - led accelerated growth in emerging countries with 73% year-over-year increase in shipments and 58% increase in revenue, and accounted for almost 9% of Dell's total revenue.

* Asia-Pacific and Japan Commercial (APJ): Revenue in the quarter grew by 19% on a 31% increase in units. Operating income was up 52% on a balanced country, segment and product performance. India and China led the region with revenue increases of 52% and 30%, and unit shipment growth of 68% and 43%, respectively. APJ growth continued strong across all product categories, with shipment increases of 46% in notebooks, 23% in server shipments and 25% in desktops.

* Americas Commercial: Total unit growth was up 3% driven by an 11% increase in notebooks and a 20% increase in servers, which was more than four times the rate of the industry.

* Europe, Middle East and Africa Commercial (EMEA): Revenue increased 15% and shipments were up 30%, with a 59% increase in shipments of notebooks. Storage revenue increased 48%. Unit growth in the region was led by the largest countries: United Kingdom up 20%; Germany up 26% and France up 14%.

* Global consumer: On improved profitability, revenue grew 20% driven by a 47% increase in shipments. Dell grew units at more than two times the rate of the industry and increased its global share by 1.2 points to 8.8%. In addition to its online and telephone sales channels, Dell expanded its global retail presence, adding Suning in China and Costco in the US to reach more than 13 000 retail locations worldwide.

* Enterprise: Server revenues were up 4% on a 21% increase in units, Dell's fastest unit growth in more than two years and three times the rate of the industry. The company gained 1.5 points of share in the quarter. Storage revenue jumped 15% driven by strong growth from Dell's PowerVault direct attached products and a full quarter of EqualLogic offerings. Based on company estimates, Dell again took share worldwide in the first quarter. Enhanced services revenue was up 13% aided by the first full quarter of the new ProSupport solutions. A leading indicator of services growth - the deferred services revenue balance - grew 23% to $5.4 billion. Dell's Cloud-Computing service and design model is powering about half of the fastest growing Chinese Internet companies as well as the largest portal in China. With launch of the Dell EqualLogic PS5000 series IP SANs and the Dell/EMC AX4 and 5i SANs, Dell extended its position as the number one provider worldwide of iSCSI SAN solutions.

* Notebooks: Notebook units grew 43% year-over-year with revenue growth of 22%. In the quarter, Dell released its first fully ruggedised laptop, the Latitude XFR D630. In Global Consumer, notebook units increased 78% and made up 60% of the product mix.

* Small and medium business: Dell announced a redesigned Vostro laptop line for small businesses, including the 13.3-inch Vostro 1310 and the 15.4-inch Vostro 1510. These products are further expansion of Dell's products designed specifically for small business customers, including servers, storage and services.

* Emerging countries: BRIC plus the 10 targeted countries in Dell's emerging countries priority accelerated revenue 47%. The company launched the Dell 500 notebook, designed specifically for the needs of emerging countries, which it is shipping to great demand in China and India. The Partner Direct programme was launched in Europe and APJ in the quarter.

Dell will continue to incur costs as it realigns its business to improve competitiveness, reduce headcount and invest in infrastructure and acquisitions. The company is seeing conservatism in IT spending in the US particularly with its global and large customers as well as public, small and medium business accounts. Dell expects the conservatism to continue through the summer, particularly as many of these customer segments are seasonally slower. Dell does not expect the significant component-cost reductions experienced during the first half of last year. In addition, the company also expects to have lower investment and other income driven by reduced investment balances with lower interest rates and increased interest expense driven by a higher level of debt.

Dell expects to continue to benefit from improving performance in areas like emerging countries, notebooks, enterprise and services, which collectively are driving a more diversified portfolio of geographies and products.

Against this backdrop, the company recently shared its goal to lower total cost and is targeting $3 billion in annualised savings by fiscal 2011. Dell's focus remains on growing units faster than the industry, increasing revenue, profitability and cash flow, and making decisions that deliver the best long-term result.