Lenovo profits jump 64% on solid PC sales

Lenovo has reported a 64% jump in net profit in the first quarter from the same period a year ago, despite sales of personal computers dropping.

Net profit came in at $173m (£132m) for the three months ended June, but revenue fell 6% to $10.1bn.

PC sales were down 4.1% in what Lenovo described as a "slow" market.

"Although the macro-economy and our industries remain challenging, causing a decline in our revenue, we significantly improved our profit year-on-year through innovative products and strong execution," said Yuanqing Yang, chairman and chief executive of Lenovo.

Tablet shipments were down 11% while smartphone sales were broadly unchanged.

Sales in China, which accounted for around a quarter of the firm's total earnings, fell 10% to $2.9bn.

"Our PC business delivered strong profits and our smartphone business stabilized compared to last quarter," Yang said.

Lenovo remained the world's largest PC maker in the first quarter with a market share of 21.1%. It shipped 13.2 million computers during the three-month period, a 2% decline from last year.

The Chinese computer giant implemented an aggressive restructuring drive last year — cutting 3,200 jobs — amid a steep plunge in mobile sales.

"Going forward, in PCs we will focus on high growth segments and leverage industry consolidation to resume growth," Yang added.