HP posts healthy Q3 results | | 2008-08-23 | | | HP has defied predictions of financial gloom, announcing a 20 percent rise in operating profit to $2.5 billion for the third quarter. Sales were up 10 percent on the same period last year at $28 billion.The best results came from the software and financial services divisions with increases of 29 and 17 percent year on year growth respectively. The personal systems group, which makes laptops, PCs and handhelds, posted a 15 per cent increase in revenues and a 20 per cent year on year increase in unit shipments.The enterprise storage and servers division was up five per cent year on year, while HP’s imaging and printing division managed just a three per cent increase in revenues.Unit shipments of printers were down by two per cent, and both commercial and consumer hardware revenues fell back, by five per cent and 14 per cent respectively. These falls were offset by an 11 per cent increase in revenues from consumables.Internationally, the strongest growth came from Brazil, Russia, India and China, with a 24 percent increase. Europe, the Middle East and Africa, were up 16 percent while the Americas record a modest 4 percent growth.“The indications are that the IT market is a bit more resilient than some people thought it would be,” said Rakesh Kumar, a vice president at industry analysts Gartner. “Businesses are still investing in infrastructure and in consulting projects, especially in [the financial markets] of London and New York.”According to Kumar, HP’s results have been driven by demand for data centre upgrades, a trend towards virtualisation, and the hardware and software to support it, along with a desire to install “green” equipment.“Organisations are looking to buy equipment that can make savings of 15 to 20 per cent in energy costs, so we don’t think that [HP’s] Personal Systems Group will suffer that much from the credit crunch,” Kumar added. | |
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