HP Reports Profit During Time Of Change
Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday reported a profit of $760million for its fourth fiscal quarter, ended Oct. 31, up
from $710 million for the comparable quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter was $11.36 billion, compared with
revenue of $10.30 billion during the fourth quarter of
fiscal 1998.
For fiscal 1999, revenue was $42.37 billion, up from $39.42
billion last year, and net profit from continuing operations
increased 16% to $3.1 billion.
Carly Fiorina, HP president and CEO, said financial results
in the fourth quarter were impacted by outside issues.
"Revenue growth in the computer business is not as good as
it should be," Fiorina said in a conference call with press
and analysts yesterday. Fiorina said she is challenging her
employees to achieve 12% to 15% increases in both revenue
and profit for the current fiscal year.
HP was able to balance operations while implementing changes
across the board, including a division into two companies--
the computing and imaging business and the test and
measurement business, now called Agilent Technologies. The
fourth-quarter results represent the computing and imaging
business only.
Fiorina said the printing and imaging business did well, but
server sales were flat except for the high-end Unix V-class
line. The PC business was profitable but impacted by a
component shortage in Taiwan, and storage sales slowed
because of a partnership transition from EMC Corp. to
Hitachi Data Systems. Said Fiorina: "We're showing that
we're capable of more than our prior results demonstrated,
and we need to aim high."
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