Dell headquarters, Round Rock, Texas - Dell is Ireland's largest exporter and one of its biggest industrial employers.

Dell said on Thursday that fiscal-first-quarter profit rose 4% on a 9% sales increase. Revenue from overseas markets overtook the US for the first time.

The world's No. 2 PC maker said commercial sales in Asia grew 19%, and revenue in emerging countries such as the BRIC grouping - Brazil, Russia, India and China - rose 47%.

Europe, Middle East and Africa Commercial (EMEA) revenue increased 15% and shipments were up 30%, with a 59% increase in shipments of notebooks. Storage revenue increased 48%. Unit growth in the region was led by the largest countries: United Kingdom up 20%; Germany up 26% and France up 14%.

Dell reported net income for the quarter ended May 2nd of $784 million, or 38 cents a share, compared with $756 million, or 34 cents a share, for the same quarter last year. The results include $106 million in restructuring expenses related to severance costs and facilities closures. Revenue rose to $16.08 billion from $14.72 billion.

“We are executing on all points of our strategy to drive growth in every product category and in every part of the world,”said Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO. “These results are early signs of our progress against our five strategic priorities. Through a continued focus, we expect to continue growing faster than the industry and increase our revenue, profitability and cash flow for greater shareholder value.”

Notebook units grew 43% year-over-year with revenue growth of 22%. In the quarter, Dell released its first fully ruggedized laptop, the Latitude XFR D630. In Global Consumer, notebook units increased 78% and made up 60% of the product mix.

Dell said it will continue to incur costs as it realigns its business to improve competitiveness, reduce headcount and invest in infrastructure and acquisitions. The company is seeing conservatism in IT spending in the US particularly with its global and large customers as well as public, small and medium business accounts. Dell expects the conservatism to continue through the summer, particularly as many of these customer segments are seasonally slower. It does not expect the significant component-cost reductions experienced during the first half of last year. In addition, the company also expects to have lower investment and other income driven by reduced investment balances with lower interest rates and increased interest expense driven by a higher level of debt.

Dell expects to continue to benefit from improving performance in areas like emerging countries, notebooks, enterprise and services, which collectively are driving a more diversified portfolio of geographies and products.

Dell's shares rose 9.5% in after-hours trading on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

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