Lower component costs and a revenue boost from the decision to sell its PCs through retailers helped computer group Dell to beat market forecasts for second-quarter earnings last night.

Profit after tax rose 46 per cent to $733 million (€537 million), or $0.32 per share, from a previously reported $502 million, or $0.22 per share, a year ago. Revenue rose to $14.8 billion from a reported $14.1 billion a year earlier. Dell said component cost declines may slow in the second half, hurting profitability.

Dell said the figures were preliminary because it is restating some prior periods following a year-long accounting audit that concluded this month. Analysts, on average, had expected revenue of $14.6 billion.

Dell, like competitors Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Apple, profited from lower costs for computer components amid a supply glut. But profit was reduced by payments to its former chief executive Kevin Rollins and 400 employees for stock options that could not be exercised during the company's internal audit into accounting irregularities. The results are the first from Dell since the conclusion of that audit.

Dell admitted that senior management were aware of accounting practices used to achieve quarterly financial targets. By November, it will restate accounts stretching back to 2003 and expects a reduction in net income for that four-year period to be reduced by $50-$150 million.

A separate US Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the same irregularities is continuing. It has been a turbulent year for the former number one PC manufacturer. Last November, Mr Rollins was ousted following profit warnings and poor financial performance, with founder Michael Dell reassuming control of the company.

Dell has continued to lose market share - largely to a resurgent HP and a buoyant Apple.

When it announced its first-quarter results in June, Dell said it would trim its global workforce by 10 per cent or over 8,000 people. It was stated that Dell's Irish workforce of just under 4,500 would only be cut by 100 through voluntary redundancies.

There was speculation that Irish staff numbers would be significantly reduced when Dell opened a second European manufacturing facility in Lodz, Poland. That factory is being run by a senior management team from Dell's Limerick factory. - (Additional reporting, Reuters)