Compaq returns to profitability

BANGALORE: Compaq Computer Corporation has announced a worldwide revenue of $9.2 billion for the third quarter ended September 30, 1999. Total revenue for the quarter grew by five per cent over the third quarter of 1998 and was down two per cent sequentially.

Compaq reported net income for the third quarter of $140 million, or $0.08 per share. The reported results include previously announced restructuring and related charges of $868 million and a one-time gain of approximately $1.2 billion from the sale of a majority interest in AltaVista Company to CMGI. On an operational basis, net income for the quarter was $117 million or $0.07 per share.

"In the third quarter, Compaq began to aggressively execute the achieved our earnings per share target, gross margin was up, and operating expenses were down," he added. Total gross margin as reported for the third quarter was 23.2 per cent. On an operational basis, total gross margin for the third quarter was 23.3 per cent, an improvement of 2.8 percentage points from the second quarter. Operating expenses in the third quarter were $2.016 billion and decreased from $2.198 billion in the second quarter of 1999 to $1.974 actions we outlined in July," said Compaq president and CEO Michael Capellas. "While our revenue numbers were down sequentially, we billion on an operational basis in the third quarter, a 10 per cent ($224 million) improvement.