Hewlett-Packard Co shares fell sharply in trading ahead of the US market opening yesterday morning after the company warned that it expects slower order and revenue growth in the second half of the year to September 30. The shares were off $2.50 at $84.50 as the market opened. President Lewis Platt was talking to bankers and analysts in Frankfurt, where he said that We do not project that the second half will be like the first half. Sustaining orders and revenue growth rates will be quite unlikely. He said it would be particularly difficult to maintain the growth rates in view of the ongoing economic deterioration in Europe – the European Commission yesterday finally started to wake up to just what is going on in the continental economies, and revised its forecast for 1993 to a Community-wide shrinkage of 0.5%. Hewlett-Packard of course had a storming first half, with turnover up 20% to $9,700m and orders up 26% at $10,600m.The company said that under its continuing cost-cutting programme it would only reluctantly hire new staff, even if new orders and revenue went on growing at rates above the industry average. We will continue to pay a lot of attention to costs. Measures include not doing a lot of hiring, Platt said. The company will would also continue its programme of consolidating manufacturing and administrative facilities, Robert Wayman, executive-vicepresident in charge of finance, told the bankers.
