Despite reporting a revenue rise of nine per cent, Hewlett-Packard (HP) has said its Q3 results were tainted by "unacceptable execution" in its enterprise servers and storage division.
CEO Carly Fiorina announced that "immediate management changes" would be made in order to boost the performance of the unit.
Reporting preliminary Q3 results, the firm posted net earnings of $586 million, or EPS of $0.19, compared to $297 million, or EPS of $0.10, a year earlier. Revenue am-ounted to $18.9 billion.
While HP’s core imaging and printing unit hit record Q3 revenue of $5.6 billion, shipping almost 10 million printers, its enterprise servers and storage unit saw revenue dip five per cent to $3.4 billion.
HP’s problems in Q3 were further highlighted by rival Dell posting a 29 per cent rise in net income in Q2.
The firm posted income of $799 million, or EPS of $0.31, compared with $621 million, or EPS of $0.24, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $11.71 billion from $9.78 billion a year earlier.
Dell’s results, which outshone rival HP’s Q3, were boosted by strong sales of printers and servers, and a robust performance in its overseas markets. (see ‘big interview’, Steve Sakumoto, page 48)
Palo Alto (CA)
