HP revenue inches up after years of decline

Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday reported that its quarterly revenue rose for the first time in three years, nudged by improved computer sales everywhere except Russia and China. Net revenue for the quarter that ended July 31 was $27.6 billion, a one per cent improvement from the same period last year when the California computer maker took in $27.2 billion. Meanwhile, HP profit in the recently ended quarter ebbed to $985 million compared to $1.39 billion in the same period a year earlier, due in part to cost savings from a massive effort by chief executive Meg Whitman to find new momentum as lifestyles shift from personal computers to smartphones and tablets. ‘Overall, I'm very pleased with the progress we've made,’ Whitman said in the earnings release. HP shares slipped a fraction of a per cent to $34.86 in after-market trading that followed release of the earnings figures, according to AFP.