Hewlett-Packard reported a slight uptick in revenue for the second calendar quarter as its PC sales increased again.
HP's revenue climbed 1 per cent to $US27.6 billion for the quarter ended July 31, the company announced. It was the first year-on-year revenue growth HP has reported in three years.
The modest rise came almost entirely from PCs, however, and it's unclear how long that business will keep recovering. Companies are still refreshing PCs after Microsoft ended its support for Windows XP, but those gains won't go on forever.
Still, HP is benefitting for now. Sales in its Personal Systems Group were up 12 perc ent last quarter to $US8.7 billion, HP said. Most of that increase was from sales to businesses.
Its Enterprise group also reported growth, with sales up 2 per cent to $US6.9 billion. Revenue from HP's print division was down 4 per cent, however, and revenue also declined from enterprise services and software.
Overall, HP's revenue beat the expectation of financial analysts, who had expected revenue to decline by 1 per cent from last year, according to Thomson Reuters.
HP's profit for the quarter was $US985 million, down 29 per cent from a year earlier, due partly to restructuring costs related to layoffs.