After heavy cost cutting and only days after the aquired 3Com, Hewlett Packard has reported that profits rose 14% in the third quarter.
HP said that in the quarter ended Oct. 31 they had profits of US$2.4 billion. Revenue decreased 8.4% toUS $30.8 billion with every unit with the exception of their services division reporting a downturn. Revenues in Asia Pacific which is primarily their Australian and New Zealand operations declined 1%.
Their core PC business posted a profit decline of 25%, while the segment’s unit shipments were up 8%. Notebook revenue fell 8%, while desktop revenue declined 16%.
In Australia HP is coming under pressure from brands like Samsung who only recently returned to the PC market as well as brands like Toshiba, Lenovo and printer brands like Brother.
Yesterday research group Gartner said that PC vendors reported a “much stronger” than expected third quarter for PC sales. Gartner is now predicting that PC shipments will rise this year. The firm was predicting a decline before.
