Virtualisation firm VMware has reported positive financial results for its third quarter, posting a 35 per cent increase in revenue compared with last year.

The results defy earlier speculation about the firm's likely performance under new chief executive Paul Maritz.

Following the dismissal of VMware co-founder Diane Greene earlier this year, the firm's position as the market leader in the virtualisation space was called into question after shares fell over 20 per cent and the company lost three of its most senior executives.

VMware reported revenue of $472m (£287m) and profit of $83m (£51m) for the third quarter. The profit rise since last year was roughly 28 per cent.

Maritz claimed that the results prove the firm's value to customers. "As commercial and government organisations are increasingly forced to do more with less, they are moving VMware to the top of their short list of strategic priorities," he said.

"Reducing hardware and operational costs, becoming more efficient, flexible and effective - these are the proven benefits we bring to our customer base of over 120,000."

But VMware was cautious about the future owing to "current uncertainty in global economic conditions".

Although the firm expects 2008 revenue to grow 42 per cent to 45 per cent on its 2007 revenue, it predicted that the revenue will be at the lower end of the range.