Dell quarterly profits lower than expected

Dell's profits fell to $679m for the three months to 1 February

Dell shares have fallen by four per cent after the vendor missed quarterly profit estimates.

Profits fell to $679m for the three-month period ending 1 February, despite a $1.5bn rise in quarterly revenue from $14.5bn to $16bn.

Year-on-year laptop revenue rose by almost a quarter, while servers, data storage hardware and desktop PCs all notched up two per cent increases.

Dell warned in a statement that its results could be "adversely impacted by more conservative spending by its customers".

Economists believe that the world's second largest PC manufacturer is more exposed to a downturn than its rivals HP and IBM because of a greater dependence on the US market where spending on technology is expected to slow.