HP's adjusted net income, excluding amortization of purchased intangibles, restructuring charges and other items, fell 31% year-on-year to $1.9bn for the quarter.
Even as it announced its financials, HP also unveiled plans to trim its global workforce by 8%,or 27,000 employees, between now and 2014 – largely through early retirement offers and attrition.
During a conference call with analysts to discuss the results, chief executive Meg Whitman said HP was looking to save between $3bn-$3.5bn in the coming years with the cuts, but said most of that money would be reinvested in the company.
HP was clearly impacted by a slowdown in commercial printer sales, as its IPG Group reported a 10% revenue decline. Commercial printer revenue was down 4% year-over-year, with commercial hardware units down 7%. Consumer printer revenue was down 15% year-on-year, with hardware units down 13% and total printer unit shipment volumes down 11%.
Whitman admitted to the analysts that HP had yet to "turn the corner," but was making progress. She specifically touted HP's performance at Drupa, noting: "It's a chance to see our Color Inkjet Web Press and Indigo portfolio in context. You can see customers and potential customers gravitating towards our innovation. And you clearly can see the shift from analog to digital commercial print happening right before your eyes.
"The market is being disrupted, and we're leading the charge. I left Drupa with a deeper appreciation for the opportunity HP has to transform [the commercial print] industry."
Whitman later added: "What we see at the highest level is an enormous wind at our backs going from analog to digital. There's going to be about 200 billion pages that are going to move from analog to digital over the next number of years."
She also touted the progress being made in integrating HP's consumer printer and PC into one group within the company, adding: "So far, this is going very well and we see tremendous potential for accelerated growth and efficiencies through common branding, improved marketing, better retail positioning, more attractive product bundles and seamless, best-in-class interoperability."
