Hewlett-Packard back on acquisition trail as turnaround begins to pay off

(GETTY IMAGES)

Hewlett-Packard is back on the acquisition trail despite the fallout from its disastrous purchase of Autonomy in 2011.

The US computer giant reported better-than-expected sales growth of 1 per cent to $27.6 billion (£16.6 billion) in the third quarter, after months of decline, and said M&A is back on the agenda.

It wrote down almost all of its $11 billion acquisition of software firm Autonomy and there is a legal battle between HP and Autonomy over the sale.

But HP chairman, president and chief executive Meg Whitman, said: “When I look at the way the business is performing, the pipeline of innovation and the daily feedback that I receive from our customers, my confidence in the turnaround grows stronger.”

She said that now its balance sheet was repaired, M&A will be part of its strategy again and said: “We’re in a position to make acquisitions the way we weren’t over the past year.”