HP posts strong second quarter

The company logged US$2.6 billion in profits on total income of just over $28.2bn.

"HP turned in another strong quarter, supported by improvement across our businesses," said HP chief executive Mark Hurd.

"With 70 percent of revenue now coming from outside the US, we benefited from robust demand in emerging economies. HP's financial outlook demonstrates its strength in the global marketplace."

More than US$10 billion of the vendor's quarterly revenues came from its Personal Systems Group, the branch responsible for desktop and notebook PCs.

Revenue from the group grew by 16 percent over last year, and unit shipments rose by 21 percent.

HP's imaging and printing operation also had a strong quarter. The unit brought in some US$7.6 billion in revenues, representing a six per cent increase over the previous year's quarter.

Revenue from commercial hardware also rose by six percent, but consumer hardware revenues fell by three percent.

Hurd also credited the strong quarterly figures to a series of ongoing cost-cutting measures.

"We have become more efficient, and I am pleased with our performance, but do not be confused," he told analysts.

"Our cost initiatives are significant and ongoing, and we expect them to create additional leverage in our operating model."

Hurd also addressed HP's impending US$13.9bn acquisition of outsourcing giant EDS.

"As I have said before, we are a great engineering company and great customer support company, but we have a market coverage problem," he said.

"I have spoken to you many times about our efforts to improve our enterprise account presence, especially in the US.

"We expect the EDS deal to significantly improve our enterprise 'share of wallet' and create a platform that gives us opportunities for new business growth."

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