For the three-month period to 31 January 2018, operating margins in the Printing segment – which comprises supplies, commercial hardware and consumer hardware – averaged 15.8%.
This compared with 3.6% in HP’s Personal Systems division, which comprises workstations, notebooks and desktops and saw net revenue jump by 15% from $8.2bn in Q1 2017 to $9.4bn.
HP’s net earnings were also up in the period, from $611m, or 36 cents per share, to $1.94bn, or $1.16 per share. This was driven by increasing sales – with earnings before taxes up by 17% from $775m to $905m – as well as benefit from US tax reform that saw a one-time tax gain for the company of $1bn.
In the Printing segment, profits jumped by 12.2% from $714m in Q1 2017 to $801m. By comparison, profits in Personal Systems grew by 8% from $312m to $337m.
Supplies makes up the largest amount of sales in the printing division, with net revenue up 10% year-on-year from just over $3bn to $3.4bn. Commercial hardware jumped by 28% from $839m to $1.1bn and consumer hardware was up by 11%, from $590m to $655m.
The manufacturer said graphics growth was largely driven by its Indigo and PageWide presses.
Dion Weisler, president and chief executive of HP, said: “Right out of the gate, we’re off to a strong start for the fiscal year. A great quarter of double-digit revenue and earnings per share growth year-over-year speaks to our ability to deliver consistent and sustained momentum across our portfolio and across regions.
“We’re playing our own game, delivering operational excellence, predictable shareholder returns and prioritising profitable growth. And we’re doing this while building the business for the long term and investing in our core growth and future strategic framework.”
The firm has returned $692m to shareholders in Q1 in the form of share repurchases and dividends.
Hewlett-Packard was split into HP Inc and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company in November 2015. Last week the manufacturer unveiled a new Indigo digital press and outlined a raft of other updates to its machinery and consumables portfolios.
