HP has become the world’s largest technology vendor, having announced fourth-quarter sales of $24.6bn (£13bn) that surpass IBM’s recent performance.
The company’s Personal Systems Group, which includes desktop and mobile PCs, increased sales by 10 per cent to $7.8bn (£4.1bn) while unit shipments rose 16 per cent.
Notebook sales increased by an impressive 24 per cent, but the company’s desktop sales remained flat compared with last year.
Ovum analyst Eamonn Kennedy says IBM’s recent top-line growth of five per cent is not dramatically different from HP’s.
‘But, in comparing the past four quarters of each company, the symbolic trophy of being the largest IT company in the world now belongs to HP by a margin of $2.2bn (£1.1bn),’ he said.
‘The timing of acquisitions will determine the size of these two companies.’
Kennedy says the results will be welcomed by HP following the controversy around the firm spying on its directors and staff.
‘The timing could not have been better for HP to present this strong set of results, and executives were particularly pleased with the balance of growth and profitability,’ he said.
‘It is also a vindication that the breadth of HP’s portfolio is working, with growth in software driving growth in hardware too.’
HP’s $4.5bn (£2.3bn) acquisition of Mercury software doubled its overall software sales.
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