The company said it had made a net income of $483m, or 18 cents per share, up from $384m or 14 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

Revenues rose 41% to $6.78bn, with growth driven by a 72% increase in sales of its powerful computers and storage systems to big businesses.

Direct sales via the company's internet site reached $35m a day or 43% of revenues.

The results were exactly in line with market forecasts which had been scaled back following a recent warning from Dell that its profits could be affected by increases in the price of memory chips.

The company looked to have escaped the slowdown in sales, especially of servers, ahead of the year 2000 that had been feared by some market analysts.

Dell said the final quarter of the year was expected to be "healthy" and that any Y2K fears among corporate buyers would be offset by buoyancy in other areas.

Shares in the company were trading at around $43, up $2 on the day, ahead of the close of trade and before the results were published.

No 1 in US

Revenue from the Americas region climbed 45% as Dell surged ahead to become the top PC supplier in terms of shipments in the US for the first time, moving ahead of struggling Compaq.

Compaq remains number one worldwide.