Hewlett-Packard Co is going to have to take a charge against its fiscal fourth quarter figures for the period to October 31 to reflect the fact that more people than it expected – about 3,000 from its worldwide work force – had accepted the incentives offered in the company’s voluntary programmes to reduce its payroll: most participants in the programme left on October 15 and Hewlett says that it will incur other costs in the fourth quarter due to consolidations, relocations and related facility expenses leading to a charge of about 40 cents a share against profits; it had been looking for 1,500 to 2,000 people to take the company’s shilling; those going represent about 3% of the total.
