Acer Inc today reported a drop in first quarter net profit after one-off investment gains this time last year.

The Taiwan-based firm, which now holds the number three spot behind rivals HP and Dell in global shipments, has reason to be cheerful, however, with its recent aggressive expansion showing stable core growth in the first quarter.

Total revenues were up 28 per cent to T$127.4bn ($4.2bn) in the three months ended 31 March.

Q1 net profit was down some 48 per cent from T$5.66bn to T$2.95bn ($97 million), or T$1.25 a share, compared to the year earlier, when the firm saw gains from share sales.

Acer said the take-over of US computer maker Gateway Inc, which completed in October last year, helped plump up sales in the Americas region to 30 per cent of its total in the first quarter. That’s up seven per cent on a year ago.

Laptops reeled in the most sales for the firm at 63 per cent, up one per cent on the same quarter a year earlier. Desktops sales pulled in 17 per cent.

According to Reuters, company chairman JT Wang said at a conference today that he expects Acer's laptop shipments to grow more than 40 per cent in 2008, buoyed by brisk demand in emerging markets such as China, Russia, Brazil, and India. ®