Operating margins in the manufacturer’s Printing segment, which comprises supplies, commercial hardware and consumer hardware, averaged 16% for the three-month period to 31 July 2018.
HP’s Personal Systems division, which comprises workstations, notebooks and desktops, saw net revenue climb by 12% year-on-year, from $8.4bn in Q3 2017 to $9.4bn.
HP’s net earnings climbed from $696m, or 41 cents per share in Q3 2017, to $880m, or 55 cents per share, in Q3 2018.
Printing segment profits grew by 3.1% year-on-year, from $807m in Q3 2017 to $832m, while profits in Personal Systems increased by 16.6%, from $313m to $365m.
The largest amount of sales in the Printing division was contributed by Supplies, which saw year-on-year net revenue growth of 8%, from $3.15bn to $3.41bn. Commercial hardware sales were up by 24%, from $940m to $1.17bn and consumer hardware increased by 4% year-on-year, from $592m to $613m.
“Q3 was another strong quarter of profitable growth with consistent and balanced performance across businesses and regions,” said HP Inc president and chief executive Dion Weisler in a webcast held yesterday afternoon (23 August) following the publication of the results.
“As a company, we are delivering what we said we would do and optimising the business to consistently deliver long-term sustainable and profitable growth.”
He added: “Looking ahead to Q4, we are monitoring several evolving market dynamics, including the global trade environment, currency volatility and industry component availability.
“That said, one of the strengths we’ve consistently demonstrated is our ability to navigate the impact of these challenges and leverage our innovation and scale to create advantage and drive sustained performance. We are executing and meeting our commitments and I’m confident in the team’s ability to continue doing exactly this.”
HP has returned $919m to shareholders in Q3 in the form of share repurchases and dividends.
Hewlett-Packard was split into HP Inc and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company in November 2015. In recent weeks the manufacturer has acquired UK-based print outsourcing provider and kit reseller Apogee Corporation, introduced the 1.6m entry-level Latex R and revealed a number of enhancements for its Indigo presses.
