Operating profit at the firm's imaging and printing systems group, which includes HP Indigo and Scitex Vision, was 516m ($896m) down nearly 20% from 2004's 641m. Sales, however, were up 4% to 3.9bn.

"We are pleased with our progress to date but there is more work ahead of us," said HP chief executive and president Mark Hurd. "HP delivered a strong quarterly with balanced revenue growth, good cost discipline, improved margins in key businesses and strong cash flow."