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IBM’s announcement of its fourth-quarter 2003 results, which was from the period ending Dec. 31, 2003, show the company’s earnings are up 41 percent.
The prior-year period included U.S. $0.23 per diluted share for charges primarily associated with the acquisition of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting (PwCC). Without these charges, diluted earnings per share from continuing operations improved 16 percent year-over-year. Income from continuing operations for the same period of 2003 was $2.7 billion compared with $1.9 billion 1 year ago, an increase of 42 percent, including $405 million for the after-tax charges primarily related to the PwCC acquisition.
Fourth-quarter revenues from continuing operations were $25.9 billion, up 9 percent compared with revenues of $23.7 billion in the 2002 period.
"This was a very good quarter for IBM and an encouraging end to a year in which we steadily gained momentum and posted record revenues," Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM chairman and CEO, said in a written statement. "Our pretax earnings and earnings per share were up double digits for 2003, and we ended the year with more than $7.6 billion in cash."
Mr. Palmisano said that IBM's product and services portfolio is "being fueled by unmatched innovation capability," and is not only strong, but continues to get stronger.
"With few exceptions, the company performed well across the board," he added. "We had more than $17 billion in services signings, and good growth in our industry-leading server and WebSphere businesses. Most encouraging is that our On Demand strategy is today a reality -- it has entered the mainstream, and it is increasingly driving our business results.
Fourth-quarter revenue growth of 9 percent (1 percent at constant currency) was driven by growth in all geographies, the company said. In the Americas, fourth-quarter revenues from continuing operations were $10.6 billion, up 4 percent (1 percent at constant currency) from the same period last year. Revenues from Europe/Middle East/Africa were $9.1 billion, an increase of 17 percent (1 percent at constant currency). Asia-Pacific revenues rose 13 percent (3 percent at constant currency) to $5.4 billion. OEM revenues decreased 14 percent (14 percent at constant currency) to $714 million compared with 2002's fourth quarter.
Revenues grew at double digits in four of IBM's six industry sectors in the fourth quarter, led by the largest sector, Financial Services, which grew at 17 percent year over year.
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