HP posts 16 per cent dip

HP posted a 16 per cent drop in quarterly profits last night – but expectations were so low that it still managed to surpass analyst hopes.

The tech giant, which last year announced a $8.8bn writedown after claiming to have uncovered "serious accounting improprieties" at Autonomy, the software business it bought in 2011, said revenues over its first quarter had declined by 6 per cent to $28.4bn.

The figures boosted confidence in cost-cutting put in place by Meg Whitman, the eBay boss who was named chief executive in late 2011.