PC-maker Dell's profits slump 63%

Dell's sales woes are being mirrored across the industry

Dell has seen its latest quarterly profits decline by almost two-thirds as the worldwide recession continues to hit sales of computers.

The world's second-largest maker of personal computers made a net profit of $290m (£182m) in the three months to 1 May, down 63% from $784m a year ago.

Revenues at the firm fell 23% to $12.3bn. However the results were better than analysts had feared.

Dell said the global trading environment remained "challenging".

'Cutting costs'

Dell has already moved to cut costs in the face of falling sales, reducing its global workforce by more than 9,000 positions over the past year.

While it made no new announcement on possible additional cuts, it said it was continuing cost reduction efforts.

"We're continuing to transform the company on the cost side and delivering strong cash flow," said chairman and chief executive Michael Dell.

The firm's results come a week after rival Hewlett-Packard said its latest quarterly profit declined 17%, and that it was cutting 2% of its workforce, or 6,400 jobs.