Thursday, October 16, 2003
On a solid Q3, IBM Corp. announced today that it sees the need to start rebuilding its workforce, expecting to add 10,000 jobs in 2004.
For the September quarter, IBM's earnings per share of $1.02 outdid the 99 cents earnings in the prior-year period, increasing 3 percent. Income from continuing operations for the quarter was $1.8 billion, compared with $1.7 billion in Q3 2002, an increase of 5 percent. Meanwhile, revenues from continuing operations were $21.5 billion, up 9 percent compared with revenues of $19.8 billion for the year-ago period.
"We delivered another good quarter despite the challenging economy and continued to gain share across our strategic businesses," Sam Palmisano, IBM's chairman and CEO, said in a statement, noting that Big Blue is beginning to see signs that the economy has stabilized.
"As we look to 2004, more customers are expected to increase their investments in information technology. While demand is not yet across the board, it is strongest in the areas where we have positioned the company and strengthened our capabilities," he continued. "Next year, in fact, we see the need for approximately 10,000 new positions in key skill areas, including high-value services, middleware technologies, Linux and open standards-based hardware and software. And we are committing $200 million of our $700 million in training and learning to equip more than 100,000 existing employees with the skills that are highest in demand."
Palmisano did not say in what locations the 10,000 employees would be added, but judging from IBM's Q3 results Europe/Middle East/Africa could use the extra help. EMEA saw its revenue improve 19 percent year-over-year, hitting $6.8 billion. In the Americas, revenue was $9.4 billion, an increase of 4 percent year-over-year. Asia/Pacific revenues improved 11 percent to $4.8 billion from the year-ago quarter. Meanwhile, OEM revenues across all geographies decreased 26 percent to $643 million compared with Q3 2002.
While IBM gave no specific guidance for Q4, Palmisano said: "Although it is too early to say that a rebound is at hand, we are confident that we will benefit from both a pick up in IT spending and an economic recovery."
By: DocMemory
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