Quarterly round-up of US company results

IRISH e-learning group Smartforce unveiled the largest acquisition to date in its industry last night alongside results for the fourth quarter. The company will acquire software group Centra in a $284 million all-share transaction.

Smartforce, which will now employ more than 2,000 people including around 500 in Ireland, described the deal as a watershed in building critical mass in the e-earning business where it said it was now the market leader by "every significant measure". The deal is expected to be concluded in the second quarter of the current year.

For the fourth quarter, the company reported a 13 per cent rise in sale sin the same period last year to $65.3 million. Excluding amortisation, net profits came in at $2.6 million or four US cents per share, a figure in line with analysts' expectations, and substantially ahead of last year.

COMPAQ Computer, the second largest PC maker worldwide, last night reported a steep fall in profits as companies reined back on technology spending. Fourth-quarter profits before exceptional items fell to six US cents (6.79 cents) per share from 30 US cents in the same period last year.

Compaq, which is in the middle of contentious plans to merge with rival Hewlett-Packard, booked $36 million in exceptional charges related to the deal during the three-month period.

Compaq plans to bring its personal computer business back to profitability in 2002, chief executive Mr Michael Cappellas said during a conference call. "We expect to restore profitability during the second half of this year," Mr Capellas said.

Sales at the company, which employs 2,200 people in Dublin, Belfast and Galway, fell 26 per cent to $8.5 billion during the last quarter but still came in ahead of expectations. Including charges, Compaq notched up earnings of five cents a share compared with a consensus forecast of one cent.

APPLE Computer posted a first-quarter profit directly in line with expectations and a turnaround from the year-ago loss, despite sluggish sales due to the economic downturn and an aging product line-up.

Apple, which employs nearly 1,000 people at its Irish operations in Cork, reported net profit of $38 million, or 11 US cents per share, in the three months to the end of December compared with a loss of $195 million, or 58 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Sales were $1.38 billion in the quarter, which gets a boost from holiday sales, compared with $1 billion a year ago and $1.45 billion in the September quarter.

Apple had forecast a profit of at least a 10 cents a share before one-time items and sales of at least $1.4 billion, while analysts polled by Thomson Financial/ First Call had expected, on average, earnings before items of 11 cents per share on sales of $1.43 billion. - (Reuters)

ABBOTT Laboratories, the US drug and medical products group which employs about 1,700 people in Sligo, Donegal and Cavan, has posted an 8 per cent increase in fourth-quarter earnings, excluding items helped by pharmaceutical sales growth both at home and abroad.

Including charges, net earnings fell 19 per cent to $613.5 million (€695 million). Total sales in the quarter increased 20 per cent to $4.45 billion.

The company issued an upbeat outlook for next year as it pushes to resolve numerous tangles with the US Food and Drug Administration and continues to see better-than-expected effects from its Knoll Pharmaceuticals acquisition.

Pharmaceutical sales jumped 44 per cent in the US and 97 per cent internationally. The jump was led by the company's protease inhibitor, Kaletra, and Knoll's anti-hypertensive drugs. - (Financial Times Service)

SYMANTEC, the anti-virus and computer security provider, last night reported a higher third-quarter profit, handily beating expectations, citing record shipments to consumer customers.

Excluding amortisation and one-time items, Symantec posted a profit of $59.4 million, (€67.2 million) or 78 US cents per share. In the year-earlier quarter, the company had pro forma earnings, excluding charges, of $40.4 million, or 52 cents per share. The company has posted profits excluding items since mid-1993.

Revenues for the quarter to the end of December rose to $290.2 million, compared with $241.8 million a year ago, according to the company which employs 300 in Dublin. Analysts on average expected the company to post earnings of 64 cents per share for the quarter, with a sales forecast of $264.02 million, according to Thomson Financial/First Call. - (Reuters)