Hewlett-Packard (HP), the world's leading personal computer maker, has reported slightly better than expected results after a tumultuous quarter.
The company said its net profit declined 91% in the fourth quarter of its financial year to $239m.
HP's fiscal fourth-quarter results included $2.1 billion in charges and write-downs from the winding down of its webOS device business, restructuring and acquisitions.
Revenue fell 3% from a year earlier to $32.1 billion, slightly better than analysts' expectations. Earnings per share of $1.17 were also better than the $1.13 expected by analysts.
"HP has a great opportunity to build on our strong hardware, software, and services franchises with leading market positions, customer relationships, and intellectual property," HP chief executive Meg Whitman said in a statement.
"We need to get back to the business fundamentals in fiscal 2012, including making prudent investments in the business and driving more consistent execution," Whitman said.
Chief financial officer Cathie Lesjak said fiscal 2011 had been "challenging" and HP is "remaining cautious heading into fiscal 2012".
HP forecast earnings per share of between 83 cents and 86 cents in the current quarter and $4 for the year. Analysts had forecast quarterly earnings per share of $1.11 and $4.84 for the year.
Whitman, the former chief executive of eBay and unsuccessful candidate for governor of California, replaced Leo Apotheker as HP's CEO in September.
Apotheker had proposed spinning off HP's PC arm and stopped production of the TouchPad, HP's rival to Apple's iPad, in a shift towards software and services for businesses. Whitman, just five weeks into her tenure, said HP would keep making PCs and produce tablet computers running Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system.
The low-margin PC market has been flat amid an astronomical increase in powerful smartphones and the arrival of hot-selling tablet computers such as the iPad.
HP said revenue declined 2% in its PC division in the quarter, while services revenue grew 2%. Revenue declined 4% in its enterprise servers, storage and networking division. Software revenue was up 28% and revenue from HP's imaging and printing group declined 10%.
