Growing PC market share boosts Lenovo first quarter results
Lenovo Group has reported it has achieved US$10.4 billion in revenue for the first quarter of the 2015 financial year, an 18 percent increase year-over-year.
The company also saw a 13 percent boost year-over-year in its gross profit for the same period to US$1.3 billion.
The company attributed the strong results to achieving a "record high" PC market share where it continues to remain as the world's largest PC maker for the fifth consecutive quarter. PC shipments for the first quarter were up 15 percent to 14.5 million units. This was driven by big share gains in Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) and the Americas as well as strong sales in mobile.
Lenovo also reported it maintained its number three ranking in smart connective devices with shipments growing by 28 percent year-over-year. In tablets, it shipped 2.3 million devices during the quarter, representing growth of 67 percent.
In EMEA, the PC maker saw revenue increase by 49 percent to US$2.8 billion, and for the first time hit the number one position in notebook sales. It also saw smartphone shipments surpass one million devices for the first time. During the quarter, Lenovo's PC shipments in EMEA increased 4.8 share points year-over-year in the quarter, to reach an all time high of 18 percent.
In the Americas, revenue reached US$2.2 billion in the first fiscal quarter, an increase of 19 percent year-over-year, comprising 22 percent of the Company’s worldwide revenue. The Americas saw a record high PC market share of 12.5 percent, up 23.7 percent or 3 market share points year-over-year, as well as record share in the United States of 11.3 percent, which was up 1.5 points year-over-year.
In smartphones, Lenovo sold more smartphones than PCs for the first time ever with record volume of 15.8 million units, up 39 percent. Despite fierce competition in China, Lenovo became the top smartphone vendor in the country with 13 million phones sold. This helped boost Lenovo's total revenue in China for the first quarter by 2 percent year-over-year to US$3.8 billion.
Asia Pacific was where Lenovo saw the smallest increase where revenue was up by US$270 million to US$1.6 billion for the first quarter. Lenovo's PC market share in Asia Pacific was up nearly two share points year-over-year to reach 15 percent. Smartphone shipments in the region were 1.5 million units, up 3.7 times from the same quarter a year earlier.
"This has been a quarter of milestones for Lenovo — record PC share, a number three ranking in worldwide tablets for the first time, and an even stronger number four global smartphone position," said Yuanqing Yang, Chairman and CEO of Lenovo.
"As the PC industry recovers, the smartphone market continues its shift from premium to mainstream, and our acquisitions of Motorola Mobility and IBM x86 proceed toward completion, we see even more opportunity to keep growing rapidly.
"Lenovo continues to outperform the market and meet our commitments to improve profitability in our core businesses, while building strong pillars for future growth across our entire portfolio."