Taiwan's Acer Inc, the world's fourth largest computer maker, posted 18-per-cent growth in profits between January and September, Acer said on Thursday, according to dpa. In the January-September period, Acer's net profit rose 18 per cent year-on-year to hit 10.56 billion Taiwan dollars (324 million US dollars), Acer said in a statement. Acer's nine-month revenues totaled 314.97 billion Taiwan dollars, up 25.7 per cent year-on-year. Acer is competing head-to-head with China's Lenovo for the title of the world's fourth largest computer maker. The world's number one and two computer suppliers are Dell and Hewlett-Packard of the United States. Acer is narrowing its gap with Lenovo: in the third quarter, Lenovo's global market share was 8.2 per cent while Acer's was 8.1 per cent. Analysts said Acer's 710-million-US-dollar acquisition of the US firm Gateway Inc on October 10 would help Acer in its bid to replace Lenovo as the world's third-largest PC company. Founded in 1976, Acer employs 5,300 people in more than 100 countries. Revenues in 2006 reached 11.32 billion US dollars.
