Technology giant IBM have reported third quarter revenues of $24.3 billion, up 3% on the same quarter last year. Net income was $3.6 billion, a rise of 12% on Q3 2009.
Revenue increases
IBM CEO, Samuel J. Palmisano, said of the results, "We achieved excellent performance in our growth markets unit, reflecting sustained investments through the downturn and the continued strength of the infrastructure build-out in these countries."
Revenue in growth markets increased by 16% with Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC countries) growing by 29 with a 20% increase in demand for servers and storage. IBM have opened another 40 offices in growth market countries this year.
IBM's global services revenue increased by 2% with pre-tax income up 4% to $2.2 billion.
Software and hardware revenue numbers
Revenues from software were up 1% at $5.2 billion with pre-tax income of $1.9 billion, up 2% year over year.
Key to IBM's revenues were its middleware products such as Websphere, Information Management, Tivoli and Lotus. IBM's operating system revenues increased by 6% to $550 million.
Hardware revenues were up 10% to $4.3 billion for the quarter with revenues from their System x range up 30%.
Cash
At the end of the quarter IBM had $11.1 billion of cash at hand with free cash flow of $3.2 billion, a drop of $200 million year over year. The company distributed $0.8 billion in dividend payments and spent $3.7 billion on share buybacks.
IBM say they are confident of delivering strong profit growth and providing a return to their shareholders going forward.
