Pre-tax profits at Intel have increased strongly from $2.6 billion to $3.1 billion for the quarter ending December 26th. The results are part of a strong performance in the second half of the year with shipments of microprocessors hitting a new high.
Net revenues rose by 17 per cent from $6.5 billion in the same period last year to $7.6 billion this year. Earnings per share rose by $1.19, a 21 per cent improvement over the fourth quarter 1997. Total net revenue for 1998 was up 5 per cent from $25 billion in 1997 to $26.2 billion last year.
The company said new products and improvements in productivity were the main reasons behind the figures. The latest figures are good news for Intel staff at its facility in Leixlip, Co Kildare who under the company's bonus scheme will get 13 days extra pay in 1999 as a result.
A spokesman for Intel Ireland said last night the company's policy of not filling vacancies, in place since April, would now come to an end. "We will now replace people who leave and will be recruiting small numbers of IT and finance staff during 1999," he said.
He said Intel's Fab 14 facility at Leixlip will be involved in producing Pentium II, Pentium III and Celeron processors when "fully ramped up". He said these processors would provide the future growth for Intel worldwide and it was crucial that the Irish operation was involved in their production.
