IBM has reported a better-than-expected 24 per cent rise in preliminary fourth-quarter earnings as result of strong sales in Asia, Europe and emerging countries. Fourth- quarter profits climbed to $2.80 (€1.90) a share and sales rose to $28.9 billion, exceeding predictions by more than $1 billion.

For the full year, IBM said yesterday it had diluted earnings of $7.18 a share, which included 5 cents a share relating to the sale of its printing systems division earlier this year. Thanks in part to a four percentage point boost from currency fluctuations, revenues for the 2007 financial year came in at $98.8 billion, an increase of 8 per cent on the year before.

The surprise report ahead of IBM's scheduled earnings release on Thursday eased some investor concerns over how much the slowing US economy has hurt the world's largest technology services company.

"This is certainly good news for IBM," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer of Solaris Asset Management. However, as IBM said the results were driven by non-US markets, concerns remained on Wall Street about the strength of technology demand from US companies.

Jyske Bank analyst Robert Jakobsen said some companies may have inflated their tech spending in the last quarter in order to protect their 2008 budgets in case of a slowdown. "We just need to see the guidance for the first quarter or 2008."

IBM in Ireland employs more than 4,000 people.