The figures, for the quarter ending 31 July, saw HP's Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) grow 3% year-on-year to $7bn from $6.7bn.

Supplies revenue in the IPG grew 11%, while commercial hardware revenue declined by 5% and consumer hardware revenue dropped 14%.

The group also experienced a decline in its printer unit shipments with a drop of 2% year-over-year. Consumer printer hardware units remained flat and the company's commercial printer hardware units dipped 9%.

Despite this, operating profit in the IPG stood at $1bn – 15.0% of revenue – compared to $981m in the previous year.

In the third quarter operating profit grew 20% to $2.5bn, while earnings per share saw growth to $0.80, up from $0.66.

The company's non-GAAP operating profit also jumped 20% to $2.7bn – the equivalent to $0.86 earnings per share, up from $0.71 the year previous.

Mark Hurd, chairman and chief executive of HP, said: "By accelerating our enterprise growth and executing well across the portfolio, HP delivered a strong third quarter performance."

He added: "Our global position, broad product and services offerings, and incremental cost saving opportunities make us confident that we'll continue to meaningfully expand earnings."

HP estimates its fourth quarter revenue will be approximately $30.2bn to $30.3bn.