HP's Fiorina gets backing of the board

Carly Fiorina, the beleaguered chief executive of HP, has received the backing of the company's board of directors despite growing pressure on her to quit.

HP hasn't been immune from the general downturn in the industry, with Fiorina's much vaunted e-services strategy so far failing to bear fruit.

This has led to speculation that she will be dismissed from her post, which she assumed in July 1999. HP last week reported a 90 per cent fall in earnings for its third quarter compared to the same time last year.

But Sam Ginn, an HP board member since 1996, told the FT: "The culture, the inventiveness, customer satisfaction, employee development and financial results all come into it, and in my view the health of the company as a whole is much better than it was two years ago."

The company has also denied that it's planning to dispose of its PC business.