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To: Mary Cluney who wrote (38955)	11/5/1997 7:36:00 AM
From: William Hunt	Respond to of 186894

TO ALL The Wall Street Journal -- November 5, 1997 PC Sales Rise Again in Europe, Signal Rebound --- Compaq Stretches Its Lead, While IBM, Apple Post Disappointing Results ---- By Matthew Rose Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal LONDON -- Signaling a return to health, the European personal-computer market posted another strong set of results for the third quarter. PC unit sales grew 16.9% in the third quarter from the year-earlier period, following 16% growth in the second quarter, according to Dataquest, a market-research unit of U.S.-based Gartner Group. The increase in unit-sales growth, prompted by improving economic conditions in many continental European countries, was helped by recovery in consumer sales as well as the professional market, said Steve Brazier, an associate director at Dataquest. It also contrasts starkly with a disappointing average growth rate of 10% during the previous few quarters. "The second quarter was a good result, but we were nervous to say [the market] had recovered," said Mr. Brazier. "The third quarter shows that the market has recovered. We are back to a healthy situation." Sales of business PCs were again strong, growing 17.4% in the third quarter from a year earlier. The market for server computers, although still small measured by unit sales, continued to boom, registering 29.5% growth from the year-earlier quarter as companies ramp up e-mail and database systems. Consumer sales, which had dragged down the overall figures for a number of quarters, were also strong, rising 15.2%. The overall gains weren't shared equally among the industry's leading vendors. Among the winners were Dell Computer Corp., Siemens AG's Siemens-Nixdorf and Hewlett-Packard Co., which all registered significant leaps in market share in the third quarter from a year earlier. At the top, Compaq Computer Corp. further stretched its lead. Its 15.6% market share is greater than the second and third companies combined, a feat that Compaq attributed to its aggressive pricing and shift to a built-to-order manufacturing system. "When you talk to international colleagues and they talk about booming markets you usually feel a little miserable," said Andreas Barth, senior vice president and general manager of Compaq Europe. "We feel good now." Other companies didn't fare so well. Second-placed International Business Machines Corp. registered its second disappointing set of results in succession, with market share falling in the third quarter to 8.4% from 9.2% a year earlier. "IBM will have to make radical improvements to stop [the loss of the second spot] becoming a formality," said Mr. Brazier. Doug LeGrande, head of personal systems for IBM in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the company's problems stemmed from its consumer business, which was in the process of introducing new models in its Aptiva range during the third quarter. Other notable casualties were struggling U.S. computer-maker Apple Computer Inc., which dropped out of the top 10 altogether, and Olivetti Computers Worldwide, the former PC division of Olivetti SpA, which also didn't appear in the rankings and moreover slipped to fourth from first in the Italian market. Country performances also underlined strong recovery. The Nordic countries and Ireland showed outstanding growth. Unit-PC sales in the third quarter, compared with the previous year, rose 39.5% in Ireland, 30.3% in Norway, 32.3% in Sweden and 28.4% in Denmark. BEST WISHES BILL