New York, July 29: Xerox Corporation has reported slightly lower second-quarter earnings, hurt by weak demand for supplies and services and soft sales in developing markets. But improving sales of new copiers and printers helped drive results past expectations. Xerox, whose shares rose more than 4 per cent, is working to gain momentum by building sales of new digital products after several exhausting years attempting to overcome persistent losses, debt woes and the distraction of a now-settled regulatory probe into its accounting practices.

Although sales in developing markets and demand for services and supplies suffered, analysts were encouraged by an 8 per cent rise in equipment sales, even though nearly all of the gain came from a weak dollar, which increases the value of goods sold in overseas markets.
"The fact that they had equipment sales up even 1 per cent (without foreign exchange factors) is a positive factor because the economy is anemic," said Tim Ghriskey, president of Ghriskey Capital Partners, which does not own Xerox shares.
Growth in hardware sales and leases bodes well long-term for Xerox, because of customers' recurring need for supplies such as toner, or for outsourcing, where Xerox sends a person to manage a client's printing machines, analysts said. Bureau Report