Euro disties enjoy July PC sales hike

Back in business: an increase in netbook demand helped drive a 13.5 per cent rise in notebook unit sales

European distributors' PC unit sales enjoyed a year-on-year hike of 4.2 per cent last month as the declining cost of notebooks helped fuel demand.

Figures from technology research firm Context tracked July's PC unit sales for distributors in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK. They revealed an increase of 12.9 per cent on the preceding month, with revenues up 11 per cent.

Year-on-year, unit sales rose 4.2 per cent while revenue dropped off 10.4 per cent – the smallest decline in several months. Notebooks accounted for 72 per cent of distributors' unit sales and 69 per cent of revenue last month.

Notebook unit sales spiked 13.5 per cent on July 2008, almost doubling June's year-on-year growth rate. Revenues continued to decline annually, but July's 5.6 per cent drop slashed June's figure in half.

Netbooks returned to sales growth last month and accounted for about a quarter of all notebook unit sales. But desktop PC demand continues to wilt, with 11.8 per cent fewer units shifted last month than in 2008.

European distributors are still facing pressure on their bottom lines, as prices remained more-or-less unchanged between June and July. Traditional notebooks costing less than €400 (£344) accounted for 47.2 per cent of all unit sales last month, up from 38.7 per cent a year ago.

Context noted that European distributors had overcome a wobbly start in July to ultimately confound many onlookers' expectations. But the research house advised caution, adding: "Obviously it is too early to draw longer term conclusions, but at least the signs are pointing in the right direction. Unit sales growth is up over June, the revenue declines lessened, and things did not get worse in July as some had feared, despite the bad start to the month."