Paul Curlander Quotations

For the year, sales to Dell were $782 million and represented 15 percent of our revenue. This compares to Dell revenue of $570 million in 2004, which was about 11 percent of our total revenue.

For the year, sales to Dell were $782 million and represented 15% of our revenue. This compares to Dell revenue of $570 million in 2004, which was about 11% of our total revenue.

The answer for this is we need to get our hardware sales moving in terms of units, particularly branded units.

On the inkjet side, we have seen a slowdown and we need to understand what that is. So the first thing we've got to do to get that moving is start to move the branded unit sales, which is another reason why we're adjusting the price position on the products and driving more aggressively on the promotions.

Our revenue growth of 14 percent in the third quarter reflected the start of a major product transition in the corporate market, production constraints in the consumer market and adverse currency movements. Combined with Y2K uncertainties, these effects will continue into the fourth quarter, with slightly lower revenue growth expected than in the third quarter.

Although our fourth quarter EPS results were better than expected, they were significantly below a year ago, reflecting a continuation of very challenging business conditions. While we are taking steps to improve our cost and expense structure, at the same time we are committed to maintaining our strategic investments in new product development and branding to strengthen our positioning in growth market segments in which we are currently underrepresented.

We are going through a period of declining end-user demand in inkjets and I think that will continue though 2006.

What we have seen is less than expected end-user demand. We don't know what is causing it. If I were to guess, I would put weak sales of (Lexmark-branded printers) on top.

Currently, these operating results are not reflective of where we want to be.