The world's number two computer maker Dell has reported a jump in profits.

We don't expect near term improvement in economic or industry conditions James Schneider, Dell chief financial officer

The company's senior executives said they expected its strong performance to continue even though there was no sign of the weak economic conditions easing.

Dell said its profits in the three months to the end of January rose 32% to $603m (�372m) or 23 cents per share.

For the year, the company's profits rose 19% to $2.1bn.

The firm said it had kept its costs down by selling directly to customers and keeping its stocks down.

Coping with war

"We don't expect near term improvement in economic or industry conditions," chief financial officer James Schneider said during a conference call with reporters.

"However, soft demand is not an excuse for poor results."

He said the company would continue to see shipments of its products increase in the first quarter by 25% compared with the previous year - faster than the rest of the computer industry.

The chief executive Michael Dell said that the company would focus on managing its business well in the face of concerns about the potential war with Iraq.

But he would not comment on its possible impact: "I haven't heard a lot of customers saying they are going to or not going to do something specifically related to this."