Lenovo Group (聯想), the world’s fourth-largest personal computer maker, rebounded to a quarterly profit from a loss a year earlier, driven by strong sales in China and other emerging markets.
Profit was US$55 million for the three months ending June 30, or US$0.54 per share, compared with a US$16 million loss last year, the company said yesterday.
Global sales surged 50 percent from a year ago to US$5.1 billion, boosted by a 50 percent rise in China. Lenovo said sales in other emerging markets doubled, while its global market share rose to double digits for the first time, reaching 10.2 percent.
PHOTO: AFP
“We achieved great results across the world last quarter, with all of our regions outgrowing the market,” CEO Yang Yuanqing (楊元慶) told a conference call.
Global demand is recovering, though mature markets have yet to emerge fully from the global crisis, he said.
“Global commercial replacement demand is gradually recovering,” he said. “Emerging markets still offer growth opportunities we can leverage.”
Chairman Liu Chuanzhi (柳傳志) said the company would spend more on research and development to maintain its profit margins.
“In the next few years, Lenovo will work on maintaining sustainable and stable fast growth, rather than just generating extremely high profits in the short term,” Liu said.
Lenovo acquired IBM’s PC unit in 2005 and expanded into wireless computing this year, launching its Lephone smartphone and two Web-linked computers in January.
Yang said Lenovo sold about 100,000 Lephones in the quarter, though a lack of panels held down sales volume.
He said the company was dealing with the shortage and should be able to sell 1 million units within the phone’s first year.
“The mobile Internet is growing, and it will create new categories and business models,” Yang said.
In China, overall sales rose to US$2.5 billion, accounting for 48.7 percent of worldwide sales, the company said.
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