HP’s sales totalled a record $104.3bn (£50.5bn) in 2007, up 14 per cent or $12.6bn (£6.1bn) from the previous year, with profits rising 33 per cent to $8.7bn (£4.2bn).

Fourth-quarter figures were also up: revenue by 15 per cent to $28.3bn (£13.7bn), and profit by 38 per cent to $2.6bn (£1.3bn).

The UK arm of the company is also doing well, with revenue growth running at just under 14 per cent, said HP UK managing director Steve Gill.

“The highlight has been very strong growth in the PC business, which rose 24 per cent year over year,” he said.

“We have also retaken from Dell the number one slot for market share in notebook sales in both the commercial and consumer markets.”

In the fourth quarter, worldwide notebook sales rose 49 per cent to $5.16bn (£2.5bn) and revenue from desktop systems grew 15 per cent to $4.2bn (£2bn).

The firm’s software division also saw strong performance. Sales doubled to $698m (£338m), fuelled by the $4.5bn (£2.2bn) acquisition of Mercury Interactive in July last year.

The troubled quality assurance software firm was de-listed from the Nasdaq after failing to meet filing deadlines for its quarterly results.

But the management software business created by the takeover is now key to HP’s strategy, according to European director Francesco Serafini.

“Mercury accounted for 70 per cent of the business in the US and 30 per cent between Europe and Asia-Pacific this year,” he said.

“And we believe there are massive opportunities for growth in 2008.”