|
SAN FRANCISCO Wed May 23, 2012 7:50pm EDT Hewlett Packard Co plans to lay off roughly 27,000 employees orabout 8 percent of its workforce over the next couple of years tojumpstart growth and save up to $3.5 billion annually, sending itsshares 11 percent higher. The company said the layoffs would be made mainly through earlyretirement and would generate annual savings of $3 billion to $3.5billion as it exits fiscal year 2014, when the layoffs are expectedto the completed. The world's No. 1 personal computer maker, which employs more than300,000 people globally, also said on Wednesday that it had a 31percent decline in second-quarter profit and a 3 percent decline inrevenue, compared with a year ago. The results, however, were better than Wall Street expectations. Layoffs "adversely impact people's lives, but in this case, theyare absolutely critical to the long-term health of the company,"Chief Executive Meg Whitman said. "This is broad based," she said in an interview. "By design, itwill touch all of HP." Whitman said a third of the layoffs would be in the United States.The company will take a pretax charge of $1.7 billion in fiscal2012 related to the layoffs. Whitman plans to boost spending on research and development,especially in printing and PCs, with the savings from the costcuts. Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said the quarter was surprisinglystrong for HP, which had missed its own forecast most quarters inthe last 18 months and prior to Whitman taking over as CEO. "Everyone expected a miss, given what Dell said," Wu said. "Itlooks like HP is regaining its footing." Dell shares on Wednesday plunged 17 percent following weaker thanexpected results and a disappointing revenue forecast spurred fearsthat global tech spending is weakening faster than anticipated. HP itself has been trying to move past the internal upheaval thatmarked 2011, including the departure of two chief executives. Whitman, a veteran Silicon Valley executive who took the top joblast September, has been trying to turn the company around. Whitman said both business leaders and consumers in Europe wereworried about the region's economy, which is hurting HP's business.She warned that the European debt crisis was a big "headwind" thecompany was facing. HP reported second-quarter net income of $1.59 billion, or 80 centsa share, compared with $2.3 billion, or $1.05 a share, a year ago.Revenue of $30.69 billion was down 3 percent compared with the sameperiod last year. Excluding after-tax costs for amortization, restructuring chargesand acquisition-related charges, HP said it earned 98 cents ashare, compared with analysts' average estimate of 91 cents,according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. TABLET LAUNCH FOR HOLIDAY Whitman, who has been at the helm for six months, said the companyalso plans to launch tablets -- for both consumers and corporations-- later this year. "We will have a Windows 8 tablet for the holiday," she said. This would be HP's second attempt in the tablet market. HP killedits previous WebOS-based TouchPad tablet last year after just sevenweeks on store shelves, citing poor demand. Whitman also said HP's acquisition of British software companyAutonomy for over $11 billion is facing challenges, and results inthe division fell short of HP's expectations. HP has moved the division under its chief strategy officer BillVeghte. Autonomy founder Mike Lynch will be leaving the company. Results from HP's other divisions were also weak. Sales from the personal systems group, encompassing PCs, were flatwith a decline in sales to consumers offsetting revenue fromcommercial clients. Revenue from its bread-and-better printing group, which is beingmerged with the PC group, fell 10 percent after weak consumer andcorporate demand. "We improved the channel inventory to within an acceptable range,"Whitman said on a conference call, referring to the printing group."However, we continue to face a weak demand environment." Sales of enterprise servers, storage and networking equipment fell6 percent. HP shares rose to $22.35 after hours after ending down 3.2 percentat $21.08. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Kayaba Pumps , Sauer Pumps Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Hydraulic Piston Pump.
Related Articles -
China Kayaba Pumps, Sauer Pumps Manufacturer,
|
