Credit: Dreamstime
Huawei Australia posted $29.3 million in profit last year despite the Federal Government ban on it supplying 5G technology.
The Chinese telecommunications giant’s revenue for the year ending 31 December rose by 18 per cent to $735 million as its profit after tax grew by 89 per cent from $15.6 million.
Specifically, Huawei’s sales of goods revenue grew by 20 per cent to $418 million while its services rose by 22 per cent to $154 million. However, growth of its construction revenue rose by 12 per cent to $164 million.
Although the company’s cost of sales grew by 21 per cent to $597 million, its tax bill fell from $16.3 million in 2017 to $9.3 million last year.
The company also paid $47 million in wages to its 343-strong local workforce, a decline of $2 million from the previous year.
Although acknowledging the year had been “challenging” on a political front, Huawei Australia chairman John Lord said the results were the best recorded by the company since opening in Australia 15 years ago.
“Huawei technology is cutting edge, safe and secure and that’s why we have become the largest supplier of mobile network infrastructure in Australia,” he said.
Credit: Huawei “These results make it very clear Huawei is the leading supplier of innovative telecommunications solutions and it’s a great shame Australian’s will miss out on our 5G technology,” he said.
Following Huawei’s ban from the 5G network, TPG Telecom announced it was pulling out of the roll-out, claiming its network plans were based on small cell architecture purchased largely from Huawei.
The company’s results coincides with the announced resignation of CEO George Huang, who leaves the role after just over one year.
He will be replaced by Hudson Liu, who was most recently the CEO of Huawei Indonesia. Having been with the company since 1998, Liu has held senior and leadership roles in both Germany and Belgium.
“George did a tremendous job in trying circumstances and can take a lot of credit for our best ever result,” Lord added.
