Yang Yuanqing (Lenovo)
Hardware vendor Lenovo expects to see a particularly buoyant PC market for the remainder of the year as it reveals a record second quarter, largely bolstered by the needs of a global workforce forced to work from home amid COVID-19.
“[2020] continues to be a year with multiple industry factors impacting supply and manufacturing, including the ongoing geo-political uncertainties, the global COVID-19 pandemic, and industry-wide component supply shortages driven by strong demand,” Lenovo told shareholders.
“However, Lenovo sees a positive outlook for the second half of the year, with the new global norm of work, learn and play from home driving long-term growth trends in device demand and cloud infrastructure requirements.
“In particular, the group expects the total PC market to grow well beyond current analyst forecasts to closer to 300 million units in calendar year 2020, around 25 million more than the total available market last year,” it added.
The Chinese hardware giant on 3 November announced record group revenue in the second quarter, hitting US$14.5 billion for the three-month period, up by 7 per cent year-on-year, with all of its businesses showing strong growth.
Profit was even stronger in terms of growth, with record pre-tax income of US$470 million, up 52 per cent compared to the same quarter a year earlier, while net income also increased by 53 per cent year-on-year to a record US$310 million.
“Our record results this quarter reflect our ongoing commitment to meeting the needs of the rapidly growing work-, learn- and play-from-home economy,” Lenovo chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang said. “All of our core businesses delivered year-on-year growth, while our software and services revenue grew to a new record."
“As the world continues to adjust to the ‘new normal’, we are confident in the long-term growth potential of both devices and cloud infrastructure. We will continue to leverage our core competencies of operational excellence and global/local footprint, while accelerating our service-led transformation to better grasp opportunities and drive sustainable growth,” he added.
According to the company’s latest financials, Lenovo’s Intelligent Devices Group (IDG) continues to lead the group’s growth with all-time record revenue for the PC and Smart Devices Group (PCSD) of US$11.5 billion, up 8 per cent year-on-year.
IDG’s second business unit, meanwhile, the Mobile Business Group (MBG), saw revenue growth of 39 per cent quarter-to-quarter and returned to year-on-year growth, continuing the strong recovery from the impact of COVID-19.
The company's Data Centre Group (DCG) saw continued growth, with revenue growing by 11 per cent, year-on-year, to US$1.48 billion, with improved profitability. At the same time, the Cloud Service Provider segment continued to grow, with revenue increasing 34 per cent, year-on-year, with strong growth across all geographies.
