Corporate demand helped Microsoft report a rise in quarterly net profit despite weak industry-wide PC-related sales.

For its fourth fiscal quarter ended June 30th, Microsoft said its net profit was $1.53 billion (€1.54 billion), or 28 US cents per share, up from $65 million, or one cent per share, a year earlier when it took a charge on investment losses.

The company, which employs 1,500 people in Ireland, had been expecting to report a net profit in the 41 to 42 cents per share range, according to a forecast it issued three months ago. Its figures included a charge of $806 million, or 15 cents a share, without which it would have met forecasts. Microsoft's revenue was $7.25 billion, better than Wall Street's expectations for $7.06 billion and compares with $6.6 billion a year earlier.

Data storage group EMC reported a break-even second quarter and said it saw no change ahead from a year-long trend of cut-rate prices and meagre customer spending on storage.

Chief executive Mr Joe Tucci said large, "tight-fisted" companies continued to delay major technology projects. "I do not see the IT spending environment improving in 2002," he said. But he also said that he did not see either demand or the pricing environment getting any worse.

The company, of which US ambassador to Ireland, Mr Richard Egan was a founder, employs more than 1,500 people in Cork.

Cardiovascular device maker Guidant, which employs about 850 people in Clonmel, beat market expectations for its second quarter on the back of strong sales of coronary stents and devices to regulate rapid heartbeats.

Guidant said earnings rose to $163.2 million including special items, or 53 cents a share, from $115.3 million or 38 cents a share. Analysts had been expecting profits of 49 cents. Sales jumped to $807 million from $656.3 million.

Earnings at Xilinx, which employs 350 at the company's international R&D, engineering and operations centre at Citywest in Dublin, more than doubled from the year-earlier level as the designer of custom chips saw continued steady sales of new semiconductors.

For its June-ended fiscal first quarter, Xilinx said it had a net profit of $41 million, or 12 cents a share, up from $18.5 million, or five cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose slightly to $289.9 million from $289.3 million and up from $273.5 million in the fourth quarter.

Sun Microsystems returned to profit with earnings of $20 million in the fourth quarter, despite falling sales. For the period ended June 30th, Sun earned one cent a share, compared with a loss of $88 million, or three cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Sales at the group, which employs 200 people in Dublin, were $3.4 billion.

Problems at Canadian-based Nortel Networks continue as the company posted a second-quarter loss that matched estimates. Nortel reported a net loss of $697 million, or 20 cents per share, for the quarter. - (Reuters)