HP also announced an $8 billion additional share buyback programme. Chief Executive Mark Hurd told reporters that HP saw a “fairly steady environment” in its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended on October  31, helped by lower computer component prices. Net income in the quarter rose 28 per cent to $2.16 billion from $1.7 billion a year earlier, HP said. Revenue grew 15 per cent to $28.3 billion. Sales were helped by a 49 per cent jump in notebook PC revenue.

HP, which has a market value of about $130 billion, said revenue in its personal systems group, which includes PCs for businesses and consumers, rose 30 per cent to $10.1 billion in the quarter.

HP saw first quarter revenue ranging from $27.4 billion to $27.5 billion, versus average expectation of $27.04 billion. For full 2008 fiscal year, HP forecast revenue of about $111.5 billion. HP has cut costs and expanded high-profit businesses such as software and technology services. Software revenue doubled to $698 million after HP bought Mercury Interactive Corp a year ago for about $4.9 billion.

HP’s imaging and printing group, which includes printers and printer supplies, saw revenue growth of 4 per cent to $7.6 billion. Revenue from server computers and data storage systems rose 10 per cent, helped by strong sales of blade servers designed to save space and energy in data centers.