Full-year profits surge at Lenovo

18-06-2008

by Bryan Collins

Computer manufacturer Lenovo saw its full-year profits soar as the company continues to see impressive growth in the EMEA region.

According to the company's latest financial reports, Lenovo's full year sales grew by 17 percent to USD16.4 billion. Meanwhile, the Chinese firm's pre-tax income for the year grew by 231 percent to USD512 million while its basic earnings per share grew by 195 percent to USD0.0551.

Over the year the firm saw its PC shipments jump 22 percent, with its share of the PC market growing by four points to 7.6 percent as a result.

During the fourth quarter of the year Lenovo's sales increased by 13 percent to USD3.7 billion, while earnings per share rose by 123 percent to USD0.0156 during the same period.

"We have put the fundamentals in place. We have transitioned away from IBM. We are now working on our own IT system. We have just celebrated our 30th year anniversary. We have grown from a USD13 billion company to USD16 billion company in three years. We are entering new markets with new products. We are trying to appeal to more creative tastes regarding the consumer market," Milko van Duijl, president of Lenovo EMEA said during a phone conference with journalists on Tuesday.

The firm had a good showing in the EMEA region where it posted year-to-year growth of 18 percent -- from USD3.1 billion in 2007 to USD3.6 billion in 2008. Meanwhile, its quarterly operating profit for the region increased by an immpressive 557.1 percent from USD21 million in 2006/2007 to USD138 million in 2007/2008.

"I continue to see good growth in EMEA. I continue to see good opportunity from a size point of view. EMEA is a huge market. Even though there is a decline on desktops I think there is a huge opportunity for us," said van Duijl.

"Ireland is a smaller market of course but Ireland is an integral market for us. There are lots of American companies that have located themselves there. We are focusing on Ireland as well as the UK with our full line-up," added van Duijl, president of Lenovo EMEA.

Lenovo also reckons that its sponsorship of the 2008 Olympics has been a great launch point for the company brand and said the technology operations it is providing for the games are equivalent to a Fortune-100 level assignment.