Sector: Technology

In some buoyant news for the technology sector, computer maker Hewlett-Packard (HP) has announced an 18 per cent profits rise for the three months to September, with cost cutting more than offsetting declining sales.

The US giant, the globe’s largest producer of personal computers, made a net profit of $2.4 billion (£1.4 billion) during the aforementioned quarter, up from $2.1 billion a year earlier, despite revenues declining by 8 per cent to $30.8 billion.

This reflected some serious recent restructuring – the company has culled 6,700 jobs this year in order to pare its cost base – as well as its 2008 takeover of Electronic Data Systems, the technology services specialist acquired for just shy of £14 billion last year.

Predicting that its top line will move higher next year, HP is in acquisitive mood, having recently announced the takeover of 3Com, a network systems maker, in a $2.7 billion transaction it expects to complete in the first half of 2010.

Meanwhile, amid London’s quoted company scene, shares in fully listed small-cap Phoenix IT rose 28p to 248p in one solitary trading session, on news of an 11.5 per cent rise in pre-tax profits to £14.8 million for the six months to September.

Encouragingly, the technology services outfit flagged up improving demand and said it hoped to clinch some large deals over the coming months. The shares then flew higher still to 270.25p on the feel-good factor, to value the company at £203 million.