By Colin Barker
Monday, June 04 2007 08:28 AM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/hardware/0,39042972,62018480,00.htm

In mixed news for the first quarter, Dell announced last week that its profits had taken a slight hit even though revenues were up, especially in its server business.

As a result of the decreasing profits, the company said it was cutting 10 percent of its workforce of 88,000. However, it gave few details of the areas from which it intended losing people, saying the reductions will vary across regions, segments and job functions.

Net profits for the quarter were US$759 million, down from the US$762 million it reported in the same quarter a year ago. But despite the fall, gross margin was up from US$2.4 billion to US$2.8 billion. Dell attributed this to higher average selling prices and a better mix of products and services. Revenue for the first quarter of Dell's fiscal year was US$14.6 billion.

After falling into second place in PC sales behind HP, Dell has been attempting to turn itself around. Over the past few months, the company has embarked on a roadshow, visiting journalists and analysts around the world in an effort to convince them it has the tools required to grow in the enterprise market.