IBM’s annual sales fall 2% to $105 billion

IT giant IBM’s global revenues totaled $105 billion in 2012, down 2% from the previous year.

The systems, software and services provider said that without the impact of global currency fluctuations, sales would have been flat year-on-year.

The company’s combined services revenues dropped 2% to $58.9 billion during the year, with both Global Business Services (BPO and consulting) and Global Technology Services (IT outsourcing) in decline.

The Systems and Technology unit, which sells servers, storage and mainframes, saw sales drop 8% to $18.3 billion.

These declines were somewhat offset by a 2% increase in software sales, up to $28.8 billion.

Geographically speaking, IBM is increasingly reliant on growth in emerging markets to compensate for slow declines in the developed economies. US sales fell 1% in 2012 and EMEA revenues dropped 6%, while emerging markets revenue grew 4%, now representing around a quarter of IBM’s business.

IBM performed better from a profit perspective. The company’s net income for the year was $16.6 billion, up 5% from 2011.

Investors were especially pleased with the company’s earnings forecast which, at $15.5 or higher, beat analysts expectations. IBM’s share price rose

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Ben Rossi

Ben was Vitesse Media's editorial director, leading content creation and editorial strategy across all Vitesse products, including its market-leading B2B and consumer magazines, websites, research and...

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