INTEL's 3,000 Irish employees are to receive a special once-off £600 bonus tomorrow, following record results from the company. The company, which has its European headquarters in Leixlip, said that the special bonus is in addition to its normal bonus schemes, which should see staff receive further substantial payments within the next few weeks.
Intel reported strong results for last year, with earnings rising by 44 per cent to $5.2 billion (£3.2 billion), from $3.6 billion (£1.97 billion) the previous year.
Intel had sales of $20.8 billion (£12.84 billion), up from $16.23 billion in 1995. Staff worldwide are to receive the special "thank you" bonus of about $1,000 each.
Intel, which issued its earnings report after markets closed, was the most actively traded stock on Nasdaq, with more than 14 million shares changing hands. It ended up 25 cents at $147.125, a 52-week high, and the company announced a two-for-one stock split along with its results.
The company, which provides the microprocessors used in 80 per cent of the world's computers, is widely regarded as a bellwether for the personal computer sector.
For the fourth quarter, earnings more doubled from last year, reflecting strong sales of its popular Pentium microprocessors, many of which are made at the Leixlip plant.
The world's largest semiconductor maker said it earned $1.9 billion, or $2.13 a share, in the last three months of 1996, up from $867 million, or 98 cents a share, a year ago. Revenues rose to $6.4 billion from $4.58 billion.
Wall Street analysts had generally expected the company to report fourth-quarter earnings equal to $1.84 per share, according to First Call, which tracks analysts' estimates.
"Intel hit on all cylinders in 1996," said Mr Andrew Grove, president and chief executive officer, with growth fuelled by the increasing popularity of the Internet, rising PC growth in emerging markets, and higher corporate purchases. The results announcement said the outlook for this year is good. The company expects revenue for the first quarter of 1997 to be approximately flat, with fourth quarter revenue of $6.4 billion.
The company is also expecting expenses to increase by 4 to 5 per cent over the $1.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 1996.
