Hewlett-Packard, once thought to be largely resistant to the recession because of its broad range of businesses, on Wednesday lowered its profit and sales forecasts for the year after reporting that it had missed its first-quarter sales estimates.

The world’s largest technology company registered a 1 per cent increase in sales, to $28.8bn, well off the $32bn to $32.5bn that the company had forecast. Profits fell 13 per cent to $1.85bn, or 93 cents a share, which was in line with expectations. HP’s shares were down 6 per cent in after-market trading.