HP blame 17% revenue slump on industry-wide supply issues
Gordon Deegan
The directors of an Irish unit of computer giant Hewlett Packard (HP) have blamed a 17 per cent decline in revenues to €81.19 million last year on the unprecedented demand for electronic devices and related industry-wide supply constraints.
Accounts recently filed by Hewlett Packard Enterprises Ireland Ltd show that the company’s pre-tax losses increased by 8 per cent to €6.45 million in the 12 months to the end of October last.
This followed revenues declining from €98.24 million to €81.19 million.
The directors state that along with revenues being hit by industry-wide supply constraints, the business was also hit by the Covid-19 related delays on the global logistics environment.
They state: “As a result, in the second half of fiscal 2021, we experienced a shortage of electric components with logistics timing issues which resulted in significantly higher levels or order backlog and commodity costs across our hardware segments and in particular computer and storage.”
The directors state that “currently we expect these challenging supply chain conditions to persist in the near term”.
Staff
Numbers employed by the firm last year reduced from 185 to 163. The staff costs of €21.53 million include redundancy costs of €2.64 million last year and this followed redundancy costs of €3.8m in 2020.
The business recorded an increase in pre-tax losses after taking into account a €1.76 million impairment of assets.
The directors state that “the decline in the financial result was caused mainly by an impairment of ‘right of use’ assets of €1.76 million, following the 'Edge to Office' restructuring plan which involved the vacation of certain premises”.
The directors state that the company “is continuing to launch certain initiatives that aim to generate turnover growth in future years, improving service delivery for higher quality and lower cost”.
The main activity of the business is the marketing, selling and servicing of computer equipment and the provision of related consultancy for enterprise customers.
The directors state that the results for last year “are consistent with business forecasts and expected performance”.
The directors state that the company “is continuing to launch certain initiatives that aim to generate turnover growth in future years, improving service delivery for higher quality and lower cost”.
At the end of October last, the company had shareholder funds totalling €80.46 million. The firm’s cash funds stood at €5.18 million.
