San Francisco - Technology powerhouse Hewlett-Packard on Monday reported net quarterly income of 2.11 billion dollars, a 4.2 per cent rise on the year-ago quarter, thanks to aggressive cost- cutting and the acquisition of Electronic Data Systems. The world's largest maker of personal computers reported a rise in revenue to 33.6 billion dollars, a 2 per cent rise, excluding currency fluctuations and the EDS acquisition.
"HP capped off a strong year by delivering another solid quarter led by strength in our services segment and disciplined expense management," said chief executive Mark Hurd. He added that HP was gaining market shares in every segment of its business.
Revenue jumped across all the company's regions - 17 per cent in the Americas, 22 per cent in the Europe, Middle East and Africa area and 14 per cent in the Asia Pacific. Revenue from the Brazil, Russia, India and China rose 23 per cent.
Shipments of computers rose 19 per cent, while earnings in the computer division rose 4.6 per cent. Earnings at HP's printer unit rose 11 per cent, while software earnings rose 34 per cent.
The Silicon Valley company also projected total sales for 2009 will be between 127.5 billion dollars and 130 billion dollars, slightly lower than analysts expectations, largely due to the tough economic situation around the world.
"We are guiding fairly conservatively on PC sales and it will have an effect across the company," Hurd said.
