Global giant undergoing multi-year restructuring programme

Hewlett-Packard has reported a huge loss of $8.85 billion after the company had to write down the value of its services business. A significant amount of this was related to its purchase of Electronic Data Systems Corp (EDS).

The world's largest PC maker said net revenue in the fiscal third quarter fell five per cent to $29.7 billion, just below the average Wall Street estimate of $30.1 billion.

HP took a charge of $10.8 billion, mostly related to the write down, which it had announced earlier this month.

The company which is struggling to offset falling PC sales with services revenue posted a net loss of $4.49 a share in its third quarter that ended July 31st.That compares to a profit of $1.9 billion, or 93 cents a share for the same period last year.

Excluding items such as the write down, it earned $1 a share, slightly beating Wall Street's target of 98 cents.

HP employs more than 300,000 people globally and is undergoing a multi-year restructuring that includes reducing its employee base by eight per cent under Chief Executive Meg Whitman. She has asked investors to be patient as she works to jumpstart revenue and cut costs.

The company said it expected to earn $4.05 to $4.07 per share for fiscal year 2012, which is in the range of Wall Street expectations.

It bought Texas-based technology outsourcing company EDS in 2008 for $13.9 billion.