PC maker Lenovo has posted a 30 per cent increase in first-quarter profit as it expanded market share to almost pull even with leader Hewlett-Packard.
Net income climbed to $141.4 million in the three months ended June 30, from $108.8 million a year earlier, Lenovo said in a statement today.
Lenovo shares surged as much as 6.8 per cent as the results reflect efforts by chief executive officer Yang Yuanqing to meet his goal of making Lenovo the world's largest PC producer.
The company increased shipments of computers including Thinkpad laptops by almost 15 per cent in the quarter, even as industry levels fell 0.1 per cent, according to research by Gartner.
"The PC market is not doing well globally, but Lenovo's market share gains are offsetting that weakness," Kirk Yang, Hong Kong-based head of Asia technology research at Barclays, said in a telephone interview today.
Lenovo, whose headquarters are in Beijing and North Carolina, advanced 5.3 per cent to HK$6.54 as of 11.51 am in Hong Kong trading.
The shares are headed for the highest closing level since June 22. Lenovo has risen 26 per cent this year, surpassing the 9.1 per cent gain for the city's Hang Seng Index.
"This set of results reaffirmed Lenovo is executing well, and continues to deliver above industry growth despite the tough macro environment," Jonathan Ng, an analyst at CIMB-GK Pte, wrote in a report today.
Bloomberg
