Palo Alto, Calif. — Personal systems group sales at Hewlett-Packard increased 8 percent in the company’s fiscal first quarter, reaching $7.4 billion, up from $6.9 billion in the year-ago three months.
Notebook revenue led the way, rising 26 percent in the period, followed by a 1 percent rise in desktop revenue. Unit shipments for the PC group jumped 16 percent in the first quarter, while overall consumer PC revenue increased 18 percent. Consumer hardware sales were flat in the first quarter, reaching $1.22 billion, up from $1.21 billion year-on-year.
HP’s personal systems group reported a first quarter operating profit of $293 million, or 3.9 percent of revenue, up from $147 million year-on-year, or 2.1 percent of revenue.
The imaging and printing group recorded first quarter revenue of $6.5 billion, an 8 percent jump over the $6.1 billion reported in 2004. Consumer hardware revenue edged upward 1 percent in the three months, ended Jan. 31. led by All-in-One unit growth of 20 percent. Supplies revenue rose 11 percent, to $3.7 billion, from $3.3 billion.
Operating profit for the imaging and printing group moved up to $973 million, or 14.9 percent of revenue, compared with $932 million in the prior-year first quarter, or 15.4 percent of revenue.
Strong notebook computer sales and ongoing cost cutting pushed up HP consolidated revenue 6 percent in the first quarter, hitting $22.7 billion, compared with a year-over-year $21.5 billion, and net income 30 percent, to $1.2 billion, up from a year-ago $943 million. Operating margin was 6.6 percent in the quarter, compared with 5.4 percent the previous year.
Excluding one-time items, HP earned $1.4 billion, compared with $1.1 billion the previous year.
