Dell Reports Preliminary Revenue of 14.4 Billion USD; Preliminary Earnings per Share of 0.30 USD

(Auszug aus der Pressemitteilung)

Round Rock, Texas, November 21, 2006 – Dell reported preliminary results for

the third quarter of fiscal year 2007, with revenue of 14.4 billion USD,
operating income of 824 million USD, and earnings per share of 0.30 USD.
Dell ended the quarter with 11.6 billion USD in cash and investments.
Commercial paper outstanding at the end of the quarter totaled 236 million
USD. The company suspended its share repurchase program in mid-September
and, therefore, only spent 335 million USD to repurchase 15 million shares.

Investigation Update; Preliminary Results Subject to Change
As previously announced, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
and the Company’s Audit Committee are conducting investigations into certain
accounting and financial reporting matters, including the possibility of
misstatements in prior period financial reports, and the company previously
received a related subpoena from the United States Attorney for the Southern
District of New York. Due to questions raised in connection with these
ongoing investigations, the Company has not filed the Form 10-Q for its
fiscal second quarter ended August 4, 2006 and does not expect to be able to
timely file its Form 10-Q for the fiscal third quarter ended November 3,
2006. As a result, all financial results described in this press release, as
well as the previously announced financial results for the second quarter,
should be considered preliminary, and are subject to change to reflect any
necessary corrections or adjustments, or changes in accounting estimates,
that are identified prior to the time the company is in a position to
complete these filings. In addition, the preliminary results for the second
and third quarters could be affected by any restatements of prior period
financial statements that are required as a result of any conclusions
reached by the investigations. No determination has been made as to whether
restatements of prior period financial statements will be required.

The company is not currently able to predict the extent or significance of
any such changes, and those changes could materially affect the preliminary
results reported herein, as well as the previously announced results for the
second quarter.

Additional information about the investigations, as well as information
about related private litigation, can be found in the Current Report on Form
8-K filed with the SEC concurrent with the issuance of this press release.

Summary of Third Quarter Results
In the quarter, the company achieved a better balance of liquidity,
profitability and growth, which was driven by an improved mix of products
worldwide. In addition, the company continued to focus its actions to
strengthen product lines, particularly in the enterprise, improve customer
experience, and accelerate growth outside the U.S.

Desktop to Data Center; Broadest Product Portfolio in Dell’s History
Dell began shipping two new PowerEdge servers featuring AMD Opteron
processors, providing customers an additional choice for high-performance
two-socket and four-socket systems. The company also launched the industry’s
first standards-based Quad-Core processors for two-socket blade, rack and
tower servers. Combined with the 9G servers launched last quarter with Intel
Xeon 5100 series processors, Dell now provides the broadest selection of
industry-standard servers in its history. In the quarter, server revenue was
1.5 billion USD on 12 percent unit growth.

In storage, revenue was 577 million USD and the company announced a
five-year extension to its partnership with EMC.

In client systems, the company launched quad core processors on its XPS 710
Extreme desktop as well as on Dell Precision workstations. In addition, the
company launched its 64-bit dual core Dimension and Optiplex systems, and
Dell Latitude and Inspiron notebooks featuring AMD processors.

Mobility revenue was 3.9 billion USD on 17 percent unit growth. Desktop
revenue was 4.7 billion USD on negative 5 percent unit growth. In both
cases, growth was impacted by the company’s decision to focus on more
profitable products.

In software and peripherals, revenue was 2.3 billion USD. Enhanced ser-vices
revenue was 1.4 billion USD. The company’s new Platinum Plus offering drove
an increase in premium service contracts year-over-year and the company now
has more than 300 Platinum Plus customers.

Strong Unit Growth in APJ and Emerging Markets
In the Asia-Pacific and Japan region, revenue was 1.9 billion USD on unit
growth of 23 percent, as the company gained 1.4 share points year-over-year.
Led by 33 percent unit growth in China, Dell was also the fastest growing
among the top five vendors in the region, growing at nearly three times the
growth rate of the industry. In India, units were up 93 percent and to more
efficiently serve the growth in this market, Dell plans to open
manufacturing operations there early next year.

In Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), where the company took a more
balanced approach to pricing, revenue was 3.3 billion USD with unit growth
of 9 percent. Dell also recently announced its second manufacturing location
for EMEA to be located in Lodz, Poland, to provide more timely delivery to
customers in Central and Eastern Europe.

In the Americas, revenue was 9.2 billion USD on unit growth of negative 4
percent. Unit growth was 37 percent in Brazil and 19 percent in Canada.

Customer Experience Improvement Led by „Resolve in One“
As previously announced the company is investing an incremental 150 million
USD this year on its Customer Experience initiatives and is seeing signs of
improvement in key external and internal indicators. By increasing the
number of agents, average hold times for U.S. customers have been reduced
from nine minutes to three minutes in the past year. In addition, the
company has reduced call transfers by over 30 percent and has improved first
contact resolution rates by 20 percent. „Resolve in One“ reflects Dell’s
goal to resolve issues to a customer’s satisfaction on initial contact.

Company Outlook
The company said that the actions it has taken to drive improved operating
and financial performance long-term with a better balance of liquidity,
profitability and growth are starting to take hold. However, in the near
term, improvement in growth and profitability may not be linear due to a
variety of factors, including the timing of continued investments in
Customer Experience, global expansion, and new product introductions, as
well as a muted seasonal uplift due to changes in the mix of product and
regional profit. In addition, the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2006
included one extra week.