Dell chief 'thrilled' at Irish transition

DELL CHIEF executive Michael Dell says “the outlook that we have in our business in Ireland has never been brighter”. He has described himself as being “thrilled” at the transformation of the Irish business since it ceased manufacturing in 2009 with the loss of 1,900 jobs.

Mr Dell made his first visit to Ireland this week since the computer maker closed its Limerick manufacturing plant in January 2009.

He addressed Dell’s 1,000 staff in Limerick and 1,300 workers at Cherrywood, Co Dublin, as well as meeting major customers at a dinner in Dublin Castle, during his two-day visit.

Mr Dell also met Taoiseach Enda Kenny and IDA Ireland chief executive Barry O’Leary at Government Buildings.

Speaking exclusively to The Irish Times, Mr Dell said the changes in the world's second-largest PC maker's Irish operations mirrored broader changes in the group, which employs more than 100,000 people worldwide.

“If you look at the last four quarters, our earnings per share are up 83 per cent year over year,” Mr Dell said. “That’s a pretty significant improvement, certainly in today’s economy, and indicative of the higher value our teams here in Ireland are delivering to customers.”

He said his company had also shut factories in the US as part of its drive into selling higher-margin services and more complex products to its customers.

Mr Dell said IDA Ireland and other State agencies “continue to do a great job” selling Ireland to foreign investors. “The other country that is great at that is Singapore.”

Mr Dell, a Republican Party supporter, was also critical of the debate in the US about American multinationals paying more corporation tax and being encouraged to employ more people in their home market. “What I tell the folks in Washington is that 96 per cent of the people in the world live outside the United States and we want to sell to all of them,” Mr Dell said.

“You can’t do that just staying in the United States. We have to go to those countries. We have to understand their cultures. We have to be part of those societies.

“The reality is if you look at the United States and the per cent of the world population it has relative to the per cent of global GDP, it has already won very nicely in terms of the global economy.”

Mr Dell said fast-growing small businesses were the engine of jobs growth in the global economy, but a “crisis of confidence” due to the macroeconomic conditions was hampering that effect.

“Maybe the government will be helpful in solving that, maybe it won’t. I don’t really know. It would be great if it did. Right now it’s not helping.”

The Texas native, worth $14.6 billion according to the latest Forbes rich list, said he had no plans to retire but had an annual discussion with his board about what should be done if he was “hit by a bus”.

“Obviously they are the board, they can do whatever what they want, but they know what to do should something happen to me. If I stay away from buses, everything should be fine.”