By John Rogers

Hewlett-Packard Co reported fourth-quarter earnings in line with lowered expectations as the company saw revenue increase 10% year-over-year to $11.36bn. Net income from continuing operations – excluding results from the Agilent Technologies test and measurement business which the company is spinning off – amounted to $760m, virtually flat with restated results from the year-ago quarter. Reported earnings per share matched the First Call consensus of $0.73 but, excluding expenses from the Agilent spin- off, came slightly above at $0.75. Comparable earnings in the year-ago quarter were $0.72.

The results were largely in line with guidance issued earlier in the quarter. In October, the company warned of weak enterprise sales of Unix servers in the North American market, mainly due to sales force issues. Short-term constraints on PC component availability as a result of the Taiwan earthquake also took their toll, although the company added that demand and profitability remained strong. Before the warning, analysts had been looking for earnings of $0.99 per share.

The company failed to report revenue by business segment this quarter, explaining that in light of recent management changes, the definition and consideration of certain business segments will likely change going forward. It did say that the imaging and printing business remained strong, with inkjet unit shipments up 37%. Average selling prices continued to decline, however, due to growth in the low end. In the computing business, revenue growth in PCs was said to be in the mid-single digits. Overall storage revenue was down for the quarter.

Net revenue in the US was $5.3bn, an increase of 9% year-over- year. International revenue, which was 54% of the total for the quarter, rose 12% to $6.1bn. In Europe, revenue rose 5% to $3.9bn, while Asia Pacific sales jumped 41% to $1.4bn and Latin American revenue increased 18% to $600m. Overall expenses for the quarter rose 13% from a year ago and were up 3% sequentially. For the full year, net income from continuing operations rose 16% to $3.1bn on revenue up 7% at $42.37bn, while EPS rose 17.9% to $2.97. รก