The company’s results, for the quarter ending 31 July, revealed that the drop in commercial printer hardware shipments. At the same time, supplies revenues within the group were down 13%.

Operating profit for IPG stood at $960m, down from a profit of $1bn the year before.

HP's total revenue came in at $27.5bn – a 2% drop from the year earlier – while group operating profit reached $2.2bn.

In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, revenue dropped 12% to $9.9bn, while it increased by 8% in the Americas.

Mark Hurd, chairman and chief executive of HP, said the company's performance was "a result of our strong business portfolio, efficient cost structure and scale".

He added: "Business is stabilising and we are confident that HP will be an early beneficiary of an economic turnaround and will continue to outperform when conditions improve."