Computer giant Dell last night said that profits fell by 18% in the last quarter amid aggressive price competition from Hewlett-Packard and other rivals.
Dell said it earned $762m, or 33 cents a share, in line with a reduced forecast it gave on May 8, when the company blamed an aggressive pricing environment for the shortfall. Revenues rose to $14.2 billion in the fiscal first quarter to May 5, a 6% increase over the same time a year ago.
Dell's chief executive Kevin Rollins said in a statement that 'the competitive environment has been more intense than we had planned for or understood.'
In a statement accompanying the results, Dell said it would no longer give specific quarterly earnings or revenue forecasts but said the company expects its fiscal second-quarter results to be 'similar to' its first-quarter figures.
Dell also said last night that it will start using chips from Advanced Micro Devices in its high-end server product line later this year. This marks the first time Dell has used chips from AMD in its products. Dell has been an exclusive user of chips from Intel, AMD's arch-rival.
