Electronics manufacturer Lenovo announced its results for the first fiscal quarter ended June 30 this year and confirmed that, for the first time, its combined smartphone and tablet sales have overtaken those of its PCs business.
The company had a quarterly revenue of $8.8 billion, which represents a ten percent increase year-over-year, while earnings grew 23 percent year-over-year to $174 million.
“For the first time ever, Lenovo was named the world’s largest PC vendor, and in so doing, recorded its highest-ever quarterly market share of 16.7 percent up 1.7 points year-over-year. Lenovo’s PC shipments for the first fiscal quarter were 12.6 million units, the 17th quarter in a row that Lenovo outperformed the industry as a whole, which was down 11 percent year-over-year,” the company said in a statement.
Lenovo also confirmed that their smartphones and tablets have surpassed their PCs for the first time ever during the quarter. “Lenovo’s combined sales demonstrate the momentum of these two businesses. During the first quarter, Lenovo became the world’s fourth largest smartphone supplier and recorded the fastest growth among the top five vendors, growing 132 percent,” they continued.
“In a tough PC market, Lenovo became the clear #1 for the first time and continues to improve profitability. Our strong performance in PC is fueled by balanced growth, through our consistent execution of the right strategy,” Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO, Lenovo.
“While driving profitable growth in our core PC business, we are rapidly transforming our company into a PC Plus company. The PC Plus market requires fast, efficient innovation as it moves quickly from premium products to mainstream ones and from mature market domination to emerging market hyper growth. This kind of market plays to Lenovo’s proven strengths. Lenovo is now better positioned than our competition to take advantage of these clear trends,” Yuanqing concluded.
The Company’s gross profit for the first fiscal quarter increased 14 percent year-over-year to $1.2 billion, with gross margin at 13.6 percent. Operating profit for the quarter grew 11 percent year-over year to $202 million.
Lenovo’s PC revenue in Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) increased 18 percent in the first fiscal quarter year-over-year to $1.9 billion, or 21 percent of Lenovo’s worldwide revenue. During the quarter, Lenovo’s PC shipments in EMEA increased 18 percent year-over-year in the quarter, compared to an overall industry decrease of PC shipments in the region of 22 percent.
Charlie Fripp – Consumer Tech editor