Dell Loses Philips Pact: Report

Dell

(DELL) - Get Report

has lost a contract valued at roughly $700 million to supply and manage computer systems for

Philips Electronics'

(PHG) - Get Report

of the Netherlands, according to a published report.

The

Austin American-Statesman

reported that the companies agreed to terminate their contract, but that Philips will consider Dell's computers for future needs. Dell was to have supplied computers to Philips for more than 75,000 people in 60 countries under the contract.

Shares of Dell were losing 38 cents, or 1.3%, to $30. The broader computer hardware sector was lower by 1.6%, led by weakness in

Hewlett-Packard

(HPQ) - Get Report

and

Palm

(PALM)

. Philips was losing 55 cents, or 1.6%, at $33.01.

Last week, Dell said that for the fourth quarter ended Feb. 3 it earned $1.25 billion on sales of $15.2 billion.