Expenses from firing workers cause Hewlett-Packard profits to fall

HEWLETT-PACKARD, the world’s largest printer maker and the No 2 seller of personal computers, said third-quarter profits fell 88% after expenses from bringing earnings back from overseas and firing workers.

Net income fell to $73 million (€59m), or 3 cents a share (€0.24), from $586m (€474m), or 19 cents (€0.15), a year earlier, Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard said yesterday in a statement.

Sales rose 9.9% to $20.8 billion (€16.8bn) in the quarter ended July 31. Excluding some costs, profit exceeded analysts’ estimates. The shares gained.