HP Sees PC Sales Jump in China

China was a bright spot for Hewlett-Packard during the company's fiscal fourth quarter, with overall sales in the country up 20 percent over the previous year. But the company's Personal Systems Group, which sells PCs, performed even better.

"On a year-over-year basis, China delivered the strongest performance with over 40 percent revenue growth," Cathie Lesjak, an executive vice president and chief financial officer at HP, told financial analysts during a conference call Monday, according to a transcript of her remarks.

Lesjak did not put a dollar figure on the company's PC sales in China during the period.

China is a key market for PC vendors both because of its size and the sustained high growth of its PC market in recent years. In addition, Chinese PC demand has remained relatively strong, even as sales faltered in other markets during the economic downturn.

However, HP's strong performance in China wasn't enough to offset weaker demand elsewhere. Overall revenue for the Personal Systems Group fell 12 percent as unit shipments rose 8 percent compared to same period last year. That rise in unit shipments was driven by laptops, which increased 17 percent while desktop shipments fell by 3 percent, she said.

Laptops accounted for 59 percent of the Personal Systems Group's sales. Desktops represented 35 percent of sales , with the balance coming from sales of workstations and other products.