This doesn't sound very positive....
5/02/00 - Dell director sees no Europe rebound later in 2000
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NEW YORK, May 2 (Reuters) - Dell Computer Corp. (DELL.O) is not likely to see a recovery in Europe, a region that recently has hampered growth for the world's No.2 personal computer maker, until the second half of 2000, an official said on Tuesday.
"We see a few quarters before (European) growth rates are equivalent to the rest of the company," Mort Topfer told an audience in response to a question posed at a Merrill Lynch computer technology conference here. Topfer, Dell's former vice chairman, is now a Dell director and advisor to Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Dell.
"We see in the third quarter and the fourth quarter a recovery there," he added.
In the fourth quarter of last fiscal year ended in January, revenue in Europe grew just 8 percent over the first quarter of 1999, well below the company's overall pace of better than 30 percent annual growth. Dell brought in new regional management in February.
Topfer had little comment on first-quarter results ahead of the company's report, which is due to be released May 11. He said that component availability, which has hamstrung profit margins in the past, had freed up during the quarter ended in April, but could return as a problem later in 2000: "We see some possible pricing pressures in the second half," Topfer said.
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