High-end server glitch fails to dampen HP figures

Hewlett Packard has posted strong results for its third quarter despite a drop in sales of its high-end servers.

Hewlett Packard (HP) has posted strong results for its third quarter despite a drop in sales of its high-end servers.

For the three months ended 31 July, HP reported profit of $1.04bn on turnover of $11.8bn. These figures represent increases of 23 per cent and 15 per cent respectively over the same period last year.

"We had a great quarter," said Carly Fiorina, HP's president and chief executive, adding that the company had seen sales of its home PCs increase by 62 per cent and notebooks by 93 per cent.

Fiorina said HP would continue to spin off "non-core" businesses and that some specialised software assets were likely to be sold in the near future.

HP achieved strong growth in its low-end servers, but the firm reported that mid-range server sales were flat and sales of high-end servers were down. It blamed the decline on customers anticipating the launch of its high-end Superdome product in September, which is set to be faster than its existing servers.

"It was at the high end where we had issues which were based on what was going on with Superdome," said Fiorina.

HP cited two other concerns: a slowdown in monochrome laser printer sales and a shortage of Dram chips that increased the cost of computer equipment.

Separately, HP's testing and measurement spin-off Agilent has reported increases in its third quarter results. Turnover rose by 28 per cent to $2.7bn on the same period last year and profit increased by 15 per cent to $155m.

The company said it expected to quadruple manufacturing of optical components over the next two years with an investment of more than $175m.