Hewlett-Packard says revenue growth next year 'unlikely'

 

 

 PC makers have been hurt by a s slowdown in global demand

• Lenovo doubles mobile device sales
• Cisco announces 4,000 job cuts
• PC sales in 'longest' historical drop

Meg Whitman, the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, has warned that the firm is "unlikely" to see revenue growth next year.

Her comments came as the firm reported a 8% decline in revenue for the quarter ending 31 July, from a year ago.
HP has struggled amid falling global PC sales and rising competition. It was displaced by China's Lenovo as the world's top PC maker last year.
The growth warning saw HP shares fall nearly 6% in after-hours trading.
"What has changed about 2014's outlook is a couple of things - Enterprise Group's performance especially during the quarter," Ms Whitman told analysts during a conference call after the results.
"Weak execution has amplified the market challenges we know exist. It's unlikely... that we'll see the growth in 2014 that I had hoped," she added.
HP reported a net profit of $1.4bn (£890m) for the quarter, reversing a loss of $8.9bn during the same period last year.
The massive loss last year occurred as the firm wrote down the value of some assets, mostly related to its purchase of Electronic Data Systems, which it bought in 2008.

My read was that fiscal 2014 growth was a stretch goal rather than a baseline assumption”

End Quote Shebly Seyrafi FBN Securities

'More challenging'

Ms Whitman, who took charge of the firm in late 2011, had previously said that it was possible for the company to see its revenues grow next year.

However, global PC sales have been declining, as customers continue to switch to smartphones and tablet computers.
Worldwide PC shipments have now fallen for five quarters in a row, making it the "longest duration of decline" in history, according to research firm Gartner.
That has hurt the fortunes of firms such as HP, which have struggled to maintain their growth rates.
"My read was that fiscal 2014 growth was a stretch goal rather than a baseline assumption," said Shebly Seyrafi, an analyst at FBN Securities.
"That has become more challenging."

Broadway star Julie Harris dies aged 87

Julie Harris made her name in the play The Member of the Wedding in 1950

Harris played Sally Bowles in the Broadway play I Am A Camera in 1952

She acted with William Shatner in the Broadway comedy A Shot In The Dark

Harris received 10 Tony Award nominations - more than any other performer

She also received a special lifetime achievement award in 2002

US actress Julie Harris, a star of stage and screen who won five Tony Awards, has died at the age of 87.

Harris was best known for her roles on Broadway, where she jointly holds the record for the most Tony Award wins.
Her breakthrough came in the hit 1950 play The Member of the Wedding, which led to an Oscar nomination for a big screen adaptation three years later.
Other films included 1955's East of Eden with James Dean, while on TV she was known for the soap Knot's Landing.

 

 

Julie Harris won three Emmy Awards for her TV performances

Harris died at her home in Massachusetts of congestive heart failure, actress and family friend Francesca James told the Associated Press (AP) news agency.
Born in Michigan, Harris made her Broadway debut in 1945 and made her name five years later in The Member of the Wedding.
Aged 24, she played the lonely 12-year-old Frankie in Carson McCullers' stage version of her novel.
Harris won her first Tony Award in 1952 for playing Sally Bowles in I Am a Camera, adapted from Christopher Isherwood's book Berlin Stories, which was later the basis of the stage and screen musical Cabaret.
Other Tony wins came for playing Joan of Arc in The Lark in 1956, for Forty Carats, a hit comedy about an older woman and a younger man in 1969, and for her role as Abraham Lincoln's wife Mary Todd Lincoln in 1973's The Last of Mrs Lincoln.
Her final competitive Tony win came for portraying poet Emily Dickinson in her one-woman show The Belle of Amherst in 1977. That performance also won a Grammy Award for best spoken word recording.
Angela Lansbury and Audra McDonald are the only other performers to have won five competitive Tonys.
Harris had five other nominations, making her the most nominated performer in the awards' history, and she received a special lifetime achievement Tony in 2002.
On the big screen, Harris appeared in more than 30 films including playing James Dean's love interest in East of Eden.
On television, she won three Emmy Awards between 1959 and 2000 as well as playing country music singer Lilimae Clements in Knot's Landing in the 1980s.

Eric Cantona to head Dinard film festival jury

 

 

Cantona's most recent film, You and the Night, screened at Cannes in May

• Cantona prepares for stage debut
• Cantona appears at Eric premiere

Footballer turned actor Eric Cantona is to head the jury at this year's Dinard Film Festival, an annual celebration of British film held in northern France.

The former Leeds and Manchester United striker has established himself as an actor since retiring from football in 1997, notably appearing as himself in the Ken Loach film Looking for Eric.
Cantona, 47, will head an eight-member jury at the festival in Brittany.
This year's event, the 24th, runs from 2 to 6 October.
Cantona and his fellow jurors will watch six British films during the festival, deciding at its close which one should receive the "Hitchcock d'Or", or Golden Hitchcock award.
Previous recipients of the prize, named in honour of British director Alfred Hitchcock, have included The Full Monty, Billy Elliot and, last year, the IRA thriller Shadow Dancer.
Previous jury presidents at Dinard include Sir Ben Kingsley, Charlotte Rampling and Kristin Scott-Thomas.
The role has been filled by a French man or woman since 2002.