Acer has slashed the book worth of PC brands in its stables by the tune of NT$3.5bn (£76.1m).

The write-down, relating to acquired firms including Gateway, Packard Bell, eMachines and e-Ten, will be seen in the 2012 annual report.

"This asset impairment evaluation has no impact on the business operation and working capital," Acer said in a statement.

Back in 2007 when Acer was riding high on strong demand for low-cost notebooks, it coughed $710m for Gateway, which itself had swallowed Packard Bell.

This was part of the firm's multi-brand strategy to tap up different types of customers and get all of them buying its kit.

The success of this ploy was questionable, certainly in the case of Gateway, and the brand was killed off a little over a year ago.

This is probably because Acer chose to slap the Gateway tag on its server tech - despite the fact that when Gateway pulled out of Europe in the early 2000s it was a consumer PC biz.

A snapshot of Acer's financials over the last three months indicates the firm continues to suffer from the dramatic slowdown in PC sales.

Turnover for October, November and December declined by double digits, the company's website reveals.

Acer was unavailable to comment further. ®