Bullish FSC reports half-year profit rise
Vendor announces 60 per cent increase on last year
Vendor Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) has announced that its pre-tax profit for the half-year to September was up 60 per cent on the same period in 2003. It also reported year-on-year unit volume growth of 32 per cent.
At the firm's Visit 2004 customer event in Augsburg, Bernd Bischoff, who has just completed his first 100 days as chief executive, said: "We have learned in the past five years that innovation has to be driven by customers. I think we are bringing products and services to market that are well accepted."
He predicted that sales will rise by at least five per cent more than the overall market until March. Growth will be driven by sales of laptops, PDAs and servers, he added.
Bischoff said the UK division's channel sales have benefited from the perception that Hewlett-Packard (HP) is taking business away from the channel, and from the fact that customers want more than the direct sales offering provided by Dell.
He claimed that, while Dell has been more successful in the UK than in continental Europe, customers are not satisfied with its support services located in eastern Europe.
Bischoff said the next two years will be defined by increasing revenue from the SME sector, and also predicted growth in the development of grid computing.
The firm admitted that its move into mobile services through its Connect2Air service, announced last year, has been more difficult than predicted.
Hugh Roper, managing director of distributor Hugh Symons, said: "The idea of leasing mobile services is innovative but it still needs work to gain acceptance. Meanwhile, we need to know whether FSC can be a major player in the PDA sector against Palm, HP and Research in Motion."