TECHNOLOGY:Dell's shares slid by more than 6 per cent after the company announced second-quarter profits down 18 per cent and revenues down 7.5 per cent. It warned of a challenging second half to the year, for which it has slashed its earnings outlook.

A slump in PC sales hurt profits, and only the servers and network division saw revenues rise. Dell is now pinning its hopes in the PC market on its favoured position as a tablet supplier in the first wave of Windows 8 products to be released this October.

Once the world’s top PC maker and a pioneer in the tight running of its supply chain, Dell is now struggling to defend its market share against Asian rivals including Acer and Lenovo, and the fast-growing adoption of tablets like Apple’s iPad.

The US’s second biggest PC maker forecast revenue would slide 2 per cent to 5 per cent in the fiscal third quarter from the second, to $13.8 billion from $14.2 billion.

Lenovo is now in Dell’s rear-view mirror as it grows rapidly: last week it reported quarterly revenues up 35 per cent