Dell sees 2006 sales growing faster than market

MANILA: Dell Inc., the world's largest maker of personal computers, expects its sales growth to outpace the broader industry this year, aided by rapid expansion in Asia, chairman Michael Dell said on Tuesday.

"We would expect that this year, Dell will grow faster than the industry," Dell, in Manila to open a new customer centre, told reporters.

"In the last three years, Dell has grown from roughly $35 billion of revenues to roughly $56 billion ... We need tremendous capacity to support our internal growth and we see that growth continuing."

Worldwide PC shipments rose 17 percent in the fourth quarter of 2005. Research firm IDC has forecast a 10.6 percent increase in shipments in 2006.

Dell, 41, declined to comment on analyst reports that global demand for PCs has been weaker than expected.

The company has said it expects revenues for the fiscal first quarter ending in April of $14.2 billion to $14.6 billion, or year-over-year growth of about 6 percent to 9 percent, below market forecasts of $14.7 billion.

Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, is trying to reinvigorate revenue growth after the company last year cut prices on entry-level consumer computers and twice missed analysts' sales estimates.

Dell said he was confident of strong demand in Asia, including smaller markets outside of India and China, where Dell is the third-largest PC seller and recently doubled its production capacity.

"If you look at all those markets combined, outside of the big markets like India and China, those markets are very significant and are growing very fast."

In the Asia-Pacific region including Japan, Dell's revenue grew 21 percent last year as unit sales rose 30 percent. The region accounted for 12 percent of total sales.

Dell said he expected revenues in India this quarter to match last quarter's 43 percent increase.

On Monday, Dell said that the company's Indian staff would rise to 20,000 in the next three years from about 10,000 now, sending the group's shares up 2.34 percent in New York.

Dell said the group hoped to employee 1,400 people at the new contact centre in Manila. The company's sales growth in the southeast Asian country has been more than 30 percent.