1:00 New York---Hewlett-Packard Co fourth quarter revenue climb 15%, sets aside $8 billion for share buybacks in 2008.

Hewlett-Packard reported fourth quarter revenue increase of 15% to $28.3 billion compared with $24.6 billion reported in the year-ago quarter, with three-digit growth in the software unit. Revenue gained sharply across major business lines for the company, but grew at a slower rate of 11% on constant currency.

H-P chairman and chief executive, Mark Hurd said they had ""added over $12 billion of new revenue this year.""

GAAP net income in the quarter rose 28% to $2.2 billion from $1.7 billion from a year ago. Earnings per share in the quarter increased 35% to 81 cents up from 60 cents a year ago. Excluding charges and one-time items, H-P would have earned $2.3 billion, or 86 cents a share.

For the fiscal year 2007, net revenue rose 14% to $104.3 billion and in constant currency increased 10%. GAAP operating profit for the year was $8.7 billion and diluted earnings per share increased to $2.68 from $2.18.

Operating margins gained 1.6 basis points to 9.3% with operating profit climbing to $2.6 billion.

For the quarter, Hewlett-Packard said revenue in the Americas rose 10% to $11.9 billion from a year earlier, and was up 19% to $11.6 billion in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Revenue grew 20% in the Asia-Pacific region to $4.8 billion.

When adjusted for the effects of currency, revenue in the Americas grew 9%, in Europe, the Middle East and Africa rose 12%, and in Asia Pacific increased 14%.

Revenue from outside of the United States in the fourth quarter was 67%, with revenue in Brazil, Russia, India and China growing 37% over the prior-year period and accounting for 9% of total revenue.

Personal Systems Group reported a 30% growth in revenue in the quarter to $10.1 billion, as unit shipments gained 31% from a year ago. Notebook revenue increased 49% and desktop revenue increased 15%. Operating profit in the group was $589 million or 5.8% of the revenue, up from 4.3% a year ago.

At Imaging and Printing Group, revenue was up 4% at $7.6 billion. On a year-over-year basis, supplies revenue grew 6%, Commercial hardware revenue grew 5% and Consumer hardware revenue declined 5%. Printer unit shipments increased 5% year over year, with Consumer printer hardware units up 3% and Commercial printer hardware units up 15%.

Enterprise Storage and Servers revenue rose 10% to $5.2 billion. Server revenue increased 78% and storage revenue increased 7%. Business critical systems revenue increased 5%, with Integrity systems growth of 59% offset by declines in PA-RISC and Alpha. Operating profit in the group was $693 million, or 13.5% of revenue, up from $502 million, or 10.7% of revenue,

In the quarter, HP Services revenue increased 7% to $4.4 billion and at HP Software rose 100% to $698 million. Hp acquired Mercury Interactive which contributed to the growth.

Revenue rose to $657 million at the HP Financial Services unit while the Asset Management earned $3.6 billion in cash flow.

For the fiscal year 2007, HP net earnings climbed 17% to $7.3 billion from a year earlier on revenues of $104.3 billion, up from 14% from 2006.

Earnings per share rose 23% to $2.68 from $2.18 reported in the year-ago quarter.

The company said the board had approved $8 billion for the repurchase of shares during 2008.

HP estimates that first quarter 2008 revenue in the region $27.4 billion to $27.5 billion and $11.5 billion at full-year. Earnings are targeted at 75 cents per share for the first quarter and between $3.12 and $3.17 for fiscal 2008.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expect first quarter revenue at $27.03 billion and $109.55 billion in the fiscal year 2008. Consensus earnings per share are estimated at 77 cents in the quarter and $3.27 in 2008.