EMC revenue down nine per cent, earnings down 23 per cent

But storage vendor predicts global IT spending decline has bottomed out

EMC announces earnings down nearly a quarter

Storage technology vendor EMC has released first-quarter financial results showing a nine per cent drop in revenue, coupled with a 23 per cent drop in earnings. First quarter revenue was $3.15bn (£2.15bn) and earnings $194.1m (£132.7m), down from $251.6m (£172m) a year ago.

EMC chief executive Joe Tucci said: "As we look to the balance of 2009, we believe the global IT spending environment has reached - or is very near - the bottom. We expect IT spending to improve in the second half of 2009 as customers will have better budget visibility, be further through their own restructuring programmes and broader stimulus packages should be underway.”

EMC's chief financial officer Dave Goulden said the firm had "executed well on our cost reduction plans during the quarter."

"[EMC is taking] near-term cost reduction actions that will save an additional $100m in 2009. We now expect to reduce EMC’s 2009 information infrastructure costs by approximately $450m from our 2008 spend, increasing to approximately $500m in 2010," he said.

EMC estimates that 2009 global IT spending decline will be, "in the very-high-single-digit to very-low-double-digit range compared with 2008," with global IT spending in the second quarter to be flat.