Hewlett-Packard (HP), the personal computer maker that employs more than 4,000 people in Ireland, said quarterly pretax profit jumped 68 per cent, helped by strong demand for PCs and printers.
Earnings at the Palo Alto, California-based company climbed to $1.74 billion (€1.36 billion) in the three months to the end of July from $1.03 billion a year earlier.
Net profit amounted to $1.38 billion, or 48 US cents a share, compared to just $73 million, or three cents, in the same quarter of the previous year, when HP had a tax bill for bringing back earnings from overseas.
HP chief executive Mark Hurd, who replaced Carly Fiorina last year, used cost savings to undercut main rival Dell on price while widening PC profit margins to the highest in four years.
Dell said last month that preliminary results showed a profit decline to between 21 and 23 cents a share, missing analysts' estimates for a second straight quarter. Sales at HP, the world's second-largest maker of PCs, rose 5.4 per cent to $21.9 billion in the reporting period. The company predicted earnings for the current quarter will surpass analysts' predictions.
In Ireland, HP has a print head manufacturing facility and the headquarters of its Europe Middle East Asia (EMEA) financial services division in Leixlip; a significant European customer support operation at Clonskeagh in Dublin; and a software development centre in Galway, founded during Digital's heyday in that city.
Like many multinationals, HP doesn't break out Irish revenues.
