Profit warning - Dell blames Intel for sales shortfall

Dell has said its financial results will fall short of expectations for the second quarter in a row, blaming shortages of Intel processors that power its PCs.

Dell has said its financial results will fall short of expectations for the second quarter in a row, blaming shortages of Intel processors that power its PCs.

Announcing preliminary results for its fourth quarter to 28 January, Dell said sales were $6.7bn (£4.2bn), below conservative estimates of $7.1bn for the vendor.

Although sales were up 30 per cent on the previous year, they were still below 1998's figures.

Dell said the main reason for the shortfall was that Intel could not provide enough processors to meet demand, although it said it had suffered some delay in sales to corporate customers.

Weak sales will affect profit too. Michael Dell, founder and chief executive of Dell, said the share price would be about 20 per cent less than current estimates of 21 cents per share.

Dell added he did not predict any immediate improvement.