Acer celebrates profit spike

Taiwanese PC vendor files first numbers since acquiring Gateway

PC vendor Acer enjoyed a substantial increase in its fourth quarter profits in its first yearly results published since its acquisition of Gateway.

Acer's turnover for the whole of 2007 was NT$471.7bn (£7.4bn), up 25 per cent on 2006, while profit was NT$10.2bn, up 30 per cent on the year before.

Turnover for Q4 2007, during which Acer acquired rival vendor Gateway, was NT$146.7bn, an increase of 24 per cent on the previous year.

Acer indicated that it expects shipments of its notebooks to increase by 40 per cent this year and its overall PC shipments to grow by upwards of 30 per cent. It also claimed that Gateway had enjoyed a "smooth integration" and was profitable in Q4.

Last week Acer rejigged its European management team and announced a new country manager and a new managing director for the UK.

David Drummond, previously country manager for Acer in South Africa, replaces Gianpiero Morbello as UK managing director. He, in turn, will is replaced in South Africa by long-term colleague Graham Braum.

Robert Watkins has been appointed UK country manager, replacing Semmy Levit, who is promoted to European head for the professional division.

Kevin O'Donoghue, previously country manager for Acer France, has been given responsibility for business development in the EMEA region. He is replaced in France by Marteen de Haas, who has previously worked extensively for Acer in the US and the Netherlands.

Acer has also created a differentiation between 'Major' and 'Small' countries and deemed that the two require different approaches. Allan Sonne-Schmidt has been appointed to manage the small countries, which includes the Nordic countries, Switzerland and Austria. Massimo D'Angelo, vice president of Acer EMEA, will continue to manage the major countries, which include the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy.

Walter Deppeler, deputy president of Acer EMEA, said: "Rather than anchoring our organisation to inflexible procedures and methods, our flexible structure has always allowed us to successfully face the most diverse situations. We encourage a belief in this vision as this is the only way our company can grow.”