Gateway Computer, the US computer group which employs 1,800 people in its European, Middle Eastern and African headquarters in Dublin, has shown strong growth in its second quarter with profits in the period up 47 per cent to $89 million (€84.8 million). Sales in the period jumped 18 per cent to $1.9 billion.

Gateway's chief executive, Mr Ted Waitt, attributed the solid second quarter performance to strong demand for the group's core personal computer business, continued strength in the Asia-Pacific and a growing revenue stream beyond the core PC business.

Mr Waitt said Gateway had a record quarter in what was traditionally the computer industry's slowest period. "Non-PC income is now well over 10 per cent, which is where we'd said we'd be by year-end," he said, adding Gateway.net had doubled its subscribers to more than 400,000.

In the second quarter, Gateway shipped a little more than one million units, a 36 per cent increase on the second quarter 1998. The group ended the quarter with a record backlog in its American business while unit volumes in Asia grew by 77 per cent. Volume growth in Europe was up slightly, while revenue from Europe declined by 14 per cent. In Britain, however, there was unit growth of 20 per cent with revenues up 8 per cent.

Average unit prices for Gateway PCs declined 13 per cent from a year ago to $1,905 while gross margins increased from 20.6 per cent to 22 per cent.