Taiwan Acer's 2009 profit down 3.54 percent

Taiwan's Acer Inc, the world's second biggest computer vendor by revenues, said Wednesday that its profit for 2009 edged down just 3.54 percent from a year ago despite the global economic meltdown.

The full-year net profit of 354 million US dollars compared with 367 million dollars in 2008, it said.

"The profit figure was better than various forecasts we observed earlier last year. It was no easy task, given the economic crisis which threatened the world," said Michael Chiang of Taiwan International Securities.

In the three months to December, the company's net profit came in at 110 million dollars, up from 88 million a year earlier.

Acer overtook US-based Dell as the world's second-largest computer vendor last year and is likely to replace Hewlett-Packard, also of the US, as number one in 2011, according to Taipei-based industry publication Digitimes.

Looking ahead, Acer said it is likely to beat Hewlett-Packard as the world's leading notebook computer supplier this year.

(c) 2010 AFP