Hewlett-Packard plans to increase its focus on software, new chief executive Leo Apotheker said last night, as the US computer giant posted fourth quarter results that topped Wall Street's expectations.
HP said net profit rose 5% in the fourth quarter of its financial year to $2.5 billion while revenue was up 8% to $33.3 billion, better than the $32.75 billion expected by analysts.
The California-based HP, the world's largest computer maker, reported diluted earnings per share of $1.10 in the quarter compared to 99 cents during the same time a year ago.
'HP proved once again that it is able to execute given its market strengths and technology leadership,' said Apotheker, who took over as HP's president and chief executive on November 1 after former CEO Mark Hurd's abrupt resignation.
HP said revenue increased 10% in the Americas to $15.1 billion and was up 6% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to $12.4 billion. Revenue rose 8% in Asia-Pacific to $5.8 billion.
HP said it expected revenue of $32.8-33 billion in the current quarter.
Revenue from HP's services business rose 0.4% in the quarter to $9 billion while revenue from its storage and servers business for the enterprise market was up 25% to $5.3 billion. Software revenue increased 1% to $974m.
Apotheker, the former chief executive of German business software giant SAP, said that he planned to increase emphasis on software.
'We all feel we need to have a strong and viable software business,' he said. 'It is true that today software represents roughly 3% of our revenue but I think we can do a lot better. Doubling it wouldn't be too bad, tripling it would be even better but that would be a very, very, very longterm projection,' he said.
HP said revenue rose 4% to $10.3 billion at its Personal Systems Group, which makes desktop, notebook and other computers. Notebook revenue was down 3% while desktop revenue increased 13%.
HP said commercial client revenue rose 20% while consumer client revenue was down 10%. Revenue was up 8% to $7 billion at HP's imaging and printing group.
