Mr Hurd is well thought of in the computer industry

Hewlett-Packard has appointed Mark Hurd as its new chief executive, the computer giant has confirmed.

Mr Hurd, currently head of smaller US computer services group NCR, will replace Carly Fiorina, who was ousted from HP in February.

HP's shares closed up 8.1% in Thursday trading in New York, following initial speculation of Mr Hurd's appointment.

Mr Hurd, 48, is credited with turning around the fortunes of NCR since he took over the top job in March 2003.

Yet analysts said he remained a surprise choice to led HP because NCR is such a smaller company.

He will take over the chief executive role at HP from April 1.

Ms Fiorina, one of the most powerful businesswomen in the US, left HP after a dispute with the company's board over future strategy.

"While this is a huge stretch for Mark (in terms of the scale and size of HP), he is a very capable executive who did a great job with Teradata, part of NCR," said Bruce Richardson, senior vice president of AMR Research.

Mr Richardson said it was "a surprise pick, but one with high potential".

In Mr Hurd's time as chief executive at Ohio-based NCR he has seen the share price more than quadruple.

Described as an expert in cost-cutting, he has also managed to turn around falling profits.

Back in January NCR reported a 55% rise in fourth-quarter income, and a 9% increase in sales to $1.79bn (￡955m).

NCR may be a far smaller company than HP but it still has more than 150,000 employees.

A person quoted by the Wall Street Journal said Hurd "has run a mini HP".

HP has struggled in recent years, losing ground to rivals IBM in the business services arena, and Dell in the personal computer marketplace.

The company's $19bn purchase of rival Compaq - a move pushed through directly by Ms Fiorina - was not considered a success.

It was this and her failure to hit HP's profits targets that led to her dispute with the company's board and subsequent departure.

(BBC)

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