When a chief executive unveils a new strategy to shareholders after nine months in the job, they hope for warm applause, not for widespread alarm and a 20 per cent drop in the share price.

Léo Apotheker, chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, provoked the latter last week when he married lower earnings guidance with a plan to acquire Autonomy, the UK software company, for an extremely high price, and to spin off HP’s huge personal computer division. After a fractious call with analysts, his irritated shareholders demonstrated their discontent.

As a result, Mr Apotheker is spending the week wooing investors and media outlets in New York and London (including a visit to the Financial Times yesterday) in an effort to restore order. But it will take more than a dose of personal attention to establish his credibility.