Acer in the black despite shaky Q4

Revenue rises on acquisitions and profit enjoys healthy spike despite dishing out $50m in staff bonuses

Despite a difficult closing quarter, acquisitions helped PC vendor Acer to an 18 per cent jump in yearly revenue last year.

For the year to the end of December, Acer's global revenue leapt 18 per cent on 2007 and stood at $16.65bn (£11.6bn). The figures will have been given a shot in the arm by the Taiwanese firm's acquisitions of Gateway in autumn 2007 and Packard-Bell early last year.

Operating profit for the year was $428.8m, although this was slightly impacted by a total of $48.36m in employee bonuses and directors' remuneration. Before these expenses, operating profit rose 54 per cent year on year.

For the final three months of the year, Acer's revenue declined eight per cent on 2007 and stood at $4.11bn. Despite this, operating profit was up 15 per cent year on year, reaching $121.1m. Acer claimed its operating margin of 2.94 per cent was in line with the expectations it outlined in January 2008.