Hewlett Packard Says It May Dispose of Units Not Meeting Targets!

Hewlett-Packard Co. said it’s evaluating the disposition of businesses that don’t meet goals more than a year after Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman said she didn’t plan to spin off the personal-computer division.

“We also continue to evaluate the potential disposition of assets and businesses that may no longer help us meet our objectives,” Hewlett-Packard said in a Dec. 27 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That language wasn’t included in the document a year earlier.

Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest maker of personal computers and printers, discussed the evaluation in the “Risk Factors” section of its regulatory filing, saying that any disposal would have possible drawbacks.

“When we decide to sell assets or a business, we may encounter difficulty in finding buyers or alternative exit strategies on acceptable terms in a timely manner, which could delay the achievement of our strategic objectives,” Hewlett- Packard said.

The disclosure that Hewlett-Packard is evaluating disposing of assets or business came 14 months after Whitman said she would keep the company’s PC business in house. Her predecessor, Leo Apotheker, had explored a spinoff of the unit, which had $35.7 billion in sales in fiscal 2012, or 29 percent of the total.