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US computer giant Hewlett-Packard reported a 17-per cent fall in quarterly net profit and said it plans to cut two per cent of its workforce, or nearly 6,400 workers, over the next year. HP said net profit fell to $1.7 billion, or 86 cents per share, in the second quarter of its fiscal year from $2.1 billion, or 87 cents per share, a year ago, in line with the expectations of Wall Street analysts.

The Palo Alto, California-based company, the world’s largest manufacturer of personal computers, said revenue was down three per cent in the quarter which ended on April 30 to $27.4 billion.

Chief financial officer Cathy Lesjak announced the planned layoffs in a conference call with analysts after the release of the results.

“We will be taking some targeted action to structurally change and improve the effectiveness of our product businesses,” she said.

“These actions will result in the elimination of approximately two per cent of the HP workforce as we further streamline and simplify our organization and supply chain. These actions will be implemented over the next 12 months.”

The only bright spot for HP in the quarter was in its services business, which notched up an operating profit of $1.17 billion in the quarter due to its purchase last year of EDS. “Our services business continued to deliver strong profitability with an increased deal pipeline and the EDS integration tracking ahead of schedule,” said HP chairman and chief executive Mark Hurd. HP said revenue from its enterprise storage and servers division fell 28 per cent to $3.5 billion while software revenue declined 15 per cent to $880 million. Computer shipments were flat in a “challenging environment” and the division saw revenue fall 19 per cent to $8.2 billion. Revenue from laptop computers was down 13 per cent while desktop computer revenue fell 24 per cent.

Operating profit for the division fell to $374 million from $544 million a year ago. The imaging and printing group saw revenue decline by 23 per cent to $5.9 billion and operating profit fall to $1.1 billion from $1.2 billion a year earlier.

HP said revenue grew nine per cent in the Americas to $12.1 billion and declined by 11 per cent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to $10.6 billion. Revenue fell 10 per cent in Asia Pacific to $4.7 billion.

HP said it expects third quarter revenue to be flat and full fiscal year revenue to decline by four per cent to five per cent with full-year earnings per share of between $3.76 to $3.88.

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