Bullish HP sees Q1 rise

Mark Hurd: HP is well positioned to outperform the market

HP has seen an eight per cent jump in its turnover for its first-quarter 2010 financials and is gearing up to invest in future growth.

The vendor posted net revenue of $31.2bn (£19.9bn) for Q1, compared with £28.8bn for the same period a year ago. Net profit stood at $2.3bn, compared with $1.8bn in 2009.

EMEA saw a one per cent decrease in revenue when adjusted for the effects of currency, while the Americas enjoyed a nine per cent increase in revenue.

Revenue from outside the US accounted for 65 per cent of total HP revenue, with BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries increasing 41 per cent over Q1 2009 and accounting for 10 per cent of total HP revenue.

Mark Hurd, chief executive of HP, said the company is “well positioned” to outperform the market.

"The strength of our portfolio, leaner cost structure and accelerating market momentum give us the confidence to raise our full-year outlook,” he added.

Cathie Lesiak, chief financial officer at HP, said: “Solid performance across the business and disciplined execution on our cost initiatives contributed to strong growth in cashflow and EPS. We will continue to invest for growth and leverage our scale and global position to take advantage of an improving demand environment."

In terms of divisions, the Personal Systems Group (PSG) saw revenue increase by 20 per cent to $10.6bn, with unit shipments increasing 26 per cent. Enterprise Storage and Servers posted an 11 per cent increase in revenue to $4.4bn, and Imaging and Printing revenue increased four per cent to £6.2bn for the quarter.

Services took a slight hit, dropping one per cent to $8.7bn and software revenue for the quarter stayed flat at $878m.