Networking giant Cisco posted record adjusted fourth quarter revenue of $10.4bn (£5.3bn), up 10 per cent on the same period in 2007. Adjusted quarterly net income rose 4.4 per cent to $2bn year on year, beating analyst expectations.

Full year 2008 figures told a similar story, with adjusted revenue up 13.2 per cent to $39.5bn and annual net income up 9.8 per cent to $8.1bn.

Cisco CEO John Chambers said despite the slowdown, financial services customers and large corporate clients are now starting to spend money on new routers and switches after cutting back on budgets a year ago, though he added it was ‘too early to call this a trend’.

Like other tech companies, Cisco’s highest sales growth came from emerging markets, but the fact that it also grew revenue from orders in Europe by 11 per cent, and the US and Canada by seven per cent is promising from a wider economic perspective.

Significantly, enterprise spending on Cisco equipment in the fourth quarter grew 13 per cent year on year, with high end routers, unified communications and application networking services proving popular investments. Public sector and service provider spending were both up just four per cent, however, indicating that the overall networking and telecommunications market still has significant challenges ahead.