Lenovo reported sales unchanged year-on-year for its fiscal third quarter to December, at USD 14.1 billion. Operating profit was still up 12 percent to USD 488 million, thanks to strength in premium PCs and profitability at its mobile business. Net profit increased 11 percent to USD 258 million. The company said it was seeing some impact on its supply chain and production due to the coronavirus outbreak, but would leverage its global footprint to minimise the effect on results.
Revenue at the Intelligent Devices Group, which includes both computers and mobile phones, rose 0.5 percent to a record USD 12.5 billion. Pretax profit was up 17 percent year-on-year to USD 687 million, thanks to expanding market share across the high-growth and premium PC segments, Lenovo said.
Revenues at the PC business alone were up 3 percent to USD 11.1 billion, and Lenovo again claimed the market lead with a 24.8 percent share. Its pre-tax profit increased 17 percent year-on-year to USD 684 million, while the mobile business contributed a profit of USD 3 million.
Lenovo said the mobile operations' biggest core market, Latin America, remained robust, and the region’s pre-tax margin further expanded. However, the business performance in other geographical markets faced challenges arising from components shortages. As a result, mobile revenue fell by 17 percent to USD 1.38 billion for the three months.
Lenovo's Data Center Group reported shipments up 18 percent year-on-year, but revenue was still lower on an annual basis due to lower commodity prices, the company said. On a quarterly basis, revenue improved 20 percent, to USD 1.6 billion. Losses at the division narrowed to USD 8 million from USD 47 million a year ago. The company said the recovery of the business was still at an early stage and it hoped to capitalise on new market opportunities for data growth such as 5G to support the turnaround.
