Lenovo had a lot to be happy about when it announced its latest results. It had managed to maintain its dominance of the PC market and had some rather good numbers.
Group revenue dropped by a percent but it still broke the $50 billion barrier for the second consecutive year, while pre-tax profit improved by 19 percent, coming in at $1.02 billion.
The vendor has been running an “intelligent transformation” strategy hoping to make cash on the back of 5G and the growth of the internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI). This cunning plan mostly centered on IoT, infrastructure and vertical offerings. That plan has carried on despite the current upheaval caused by the Covid-19 coronavirus.
Numbers for the year to 31 March were welcomed by, Lenovo chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing: “Amid one of the most significant periods of global change and transformation we have ever seen, Lenovo significantly transformed its business over the past year. From achieving record PTI of $1.02 billion to reaching near record revenue of $50.7 billion, I could not be prouder of our strong performance.”
The PC and smart device business managed to deliver an 18 percent climb in pre-tax profit to $2.3 billion, with the vendor gaining the rewards of a decision to concentrate on high-value segments – workstation, thin and light, visual and gaming PCs.
The datacentre group saw revenue declining by 8.7 percent, although losses slightly improved to $226 million. Efforts are being made to invest in areas that will turn the situation around, including storage, software-defined infrastructure, software and services.
Lenovo’s software and services grew by 43 percent year on year, now accounting for close to seven percent of the firm’s overall revenue. Smart IoT and smart vertical businesses posted triple-digit growth over the course of the fiscal year.
The CEO said it had weathered the storm so far and was well positioned to come out of the coronavirus pandemic maintaining its current strategy.
“I am unbelievably proud of how we continue to respond to the global pandemic, as both a business and a corporate citizen. While the world continues to face uncertain times, I’m confident Lenovo will leverage its operational excellence and global footprint to continue implementing our intelligent transformation strategy and fully grasp the opportunities our ‘new norm’ provides us.”
