Third quarter net income fell by 12% year-on-year to $282m, following a 3% revenue decline to $5.4bn. Xerox reported that printing-related technology sales were off by 7%, with sales of actual equipment down 14%.

Installations of high-end iGens were up 32% over the same period in 2011, but that was offset by a drop in high-end monochrome presses at the Rochester, NY-based manufacturer.

In a press release, Xerox noted revenues from business process outsourcing were up 9%, while IT outsourcing grew 6% and document outsourcing was up 4%.

Xerox Chairman/CEO Ursula Burns later told analysts: "Our third-quarter performance aligns with shifts in our business as services become a larger proportion of our revenue, and reflects the dynamics of a challenging economy that is creating cost pressures for large enterprises and governments.

"We're accelerating growth in print-related markets that are expanding, like serving more small and mid-size businesses through indirect channels, and we're maintaining our profitable leadership in markets that are contracting."

Both Burns and CFO/Executive VP Luca Maestri cited a slowing global economy in the third quarter as impacting Xerox’s performance, prompting the company to announce up to $100m in restructuring charges to account for large companies tightening budgets and less funding for government projects.

"Equipment revenue decline reflects greater uncertainty in the macro environment with increasing pressure in the US and continued weakness in Europe," Maestri explained. "It should also be noted that the trend in revenues is worsened by the prior year tsunami impacts, which disrupted supply in Q2 of 2011 and saw recovery in Q3."

But Maestri also saw a bit of a silver lining in equipment sales, including presses, noting: "We saw good growth in entry installs from new products and relative strengths in SMB. High-end had good color install growth, driven primarily by entry production products. Mix in high-end should improve with the recent launches of our latest iGen device and the new Nuvera platform announced at Graph Expo."