Dell's Q4 profits take a hit ahead of buyout

EMEA sees biggest drop in Q4 sales as firm withholds fiscal 2014 and Q1 outlook

Dell has insisted that its long-term strategy was on track in its fourth quarter, despite revenue plummeting across almost every business unit and all regions over the period.

For the three months to 3 February, Dell's GAAP net income dropped by 31 per cent to $530m (£347m), on revenue that also dropped 11 per cent to $14.3bn, narrowly ahead of Wall Street expectations of $14.12bn.

Revenue across its large enterprise, public, SMB and consumer business units all fell year on year in its fourth quarter, with the latter faring the worst after its sales slumped by a quarter to $2.8bn.

However, its server and networking business, which includes previously acquired Quest and SonicWall, grew 18 per cent year on year in its Q4, representing the 13th consecutive quarter of growth.

Eponymous leader Michael Dell was absent from the earnings call due to his pending buyout of the firm, backed by Silver Lake investment and Microsoft, which was announced in February. The impending sale of the business also meant that a business outlook for its first quarter was not provided.

Regionally for the quarter, EMEA fared the worst, with its sales dropping annually by 14 per cent, compared with the Americas and Asia-Pacific and Japan region's sales sliding by 10 per cent and nine per cent respectively in comparison to the year before.

Speaking on its earnings call, transcribed by Seeking Alpha, the firm's chief financial officer Brian Gladdon claimed that despite the drop in sales in Europe, the region has remained relatively stable.

He said: "Europe has over the past couple of quarters been relatively stable at a relatively low level. So you look at the declines we saw in the fourth quarter, pretty similar to what we saw in the second and third quarter in Europe.

"[There is] still some good progress around the enterprise side of our business in Europe, and saw some good growth there. Clearly better in eastern Europe than western Europe, but I think we are bracing for a similar environment in Europe as we move forward."