Dell to take Q4 hit from Irish exit

$135m charge includes provision for migration of EMEA production from Ireland to Poland

Dell's cost-cutting drive will lead it to take an estimated $135m hit in its fourth quarter, including an expense relating to its decision to quit Irish PC production.

The vendor does not release its Q4 and full-year results until 26 February but has issued a statement to alert investors to a number of one-off costs it will incur in the quarter.

The $135m pre-tax charge relates to its manufacturing optimisation drive and workforce reduction programme and includes an expense for the migration of its EMEA PC production from Ireland to Poland.

The Irish authorities are still reeling from Dell’s decision to pull the plug on its Limerick plant, which will lead to the loss of 1,900 jobs.

After asking for aid from the European Union last week, Ireland’s minister for labour affairs Billy Kelleher said: “The key task of the European Globalisation Fund is to assist in addressing economic dislocation and its impact on local, regional and national economies.

“The scale of redundancies in Dell and more widely in the mid-west region has brought such economic dislocation to that area and particularly to Limerick.”

Dell said it also expects to incur an estimated $145m non-cash pre-tax expense related to stock-based compensation during Q4.