IBM is the latest in a string of IT giants to report negative revenue growth for its latest financial quarter.

For the three months ending September 30, group revenues fell 5.4% to $24.7 billion.

Like Oracle before it, IBM said that it was adversely affected by foreign exchange rates. In constant currency, it said, revenue shrank by just 2% year-on-year.

But the real bad news for IBM was that its US business – its largest, and the one that is unaffected by currency fluctuation – saw revenue fall by 3%.

Speaking in a conference call with investment analysts, CFO Mark Loughridge said that the company's growth fell back during September, the third month of the quarter, primarily in the US and the 'growth markets'.

Systems and technology – i.e. its hardware and infrastructure business – fell by 12% in constant currency, thanks in part to a 19% drop in System z mainframe sales.

Continuing the trend of much of the global IT services industry, IBM's services division shrank by 5% (flat in constant currency).

Earlier this year, IBM described the UK as one of its most consistent growth markets, having grown for ten consecutive quarters. That run of growth ended in the most recent quarter, when revenues were flat.

The UK was also the source of one particular headache during the quarter. Earlier this week, IBM lost a legal dispute with the trustee of its UK pension scheme, costing the company $125 million after tax.

This charge meant that the company's net income stayed flat year-on-year during the quarter, at $3.8 billion.