BEIJING – Personal computer maker Lenovo says its latest quarterly profit rose 59 percent over a year earlier on record sales.
Lenovo said Wednesday its profit for the three months ending March 31 was $67 million.

The company said quarterly sales rose 54 percent to $7.5 billion.

For the full year ending in March, Lenovo said profit rose 73 percent to $473 million on a 37 percent increase in sales to $29.6 billion.

Acquisitions in Germany and Japan helped boost shipments and market share.

That net income beat the $63.1 million average of nine analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. (Read full earnings report here.)

Lenovo sold more computers including Thinkpad laptops to businesses in the U.S. and emerging markets, bringing it closer to Chief Executive Officer Yang Yuanqing’s target of becoming the world’s largest PC maker. Yang also helped boost sales by acquiring control of Medion AG, an Essen, Germany-based computer maker, and the PC unit of Tokyo-based NEC Corp. last year.

“Solid revenue growth was lifted by above-industry volume growth and maiden contributions from NEC and Medion,” Jonathan Ng, a Singapore-based analyst at CIMB, said in an e-mail. “Profit is growing in line with top-line growth, reflecting that Lenovo is able maintain its margin despite increased investment in mobile devices.”

Chairman’s Statement

“The 2011/12 fiscal year was a record-setting year for Lenovo, where we set an all-time high for revenue, shipment, market share and pre-tax income,” Yang said in a statement.

“Our fiscal year ended impressively with strong momentum. Lenovo’s global PC shipments grew by 35% year-over-year, outperforming the industry by ten times, global market share increased by three percentage points, and net profit jumped by 73% year-over year.

“During the fourth fiscal quarter, Lenovo was the fastest growing among the top PC vendors in Global Emerging Markets, and Commercial Markets, as well as Consumer Markets and Mature Markets, where for the first-time ever, we reached double-digit market share in both.

“We furthered our leadership position in the Global Emerging Markets, in which Lenovo already achieved double digit-market share in 15 markets and became number one in India.

“With the emergence of multiple devices such as smartphones, tablets and smart TV, our industry is entering the PC + era. Lenovo is focused on leading the PC industry, and building upon that leadership in the PC+ era.”

Smartphones, Tablets

Yang is also increasing development of smartphones, tablets and Internet-ready TVs to widen the company’s consumer lineup and challenge Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

Lenovo raised deliveries 44 percent in the three months ended in March, compared with a 4.6 percent jump in industry shipments in the period, the company said.

Lenovo expanded its global PC market share to 13.4 percent in the period from 9.6 percent a year earlier, market researcher IDC said last month. The company, with headquarters in Beijing and Morrisville, North Carolina, trails only Hewlett-Packard Co.’s 18 percent share, according to IDC.

Lenovo shares fell 1.5 percent to HK$6.78 at 2:32 p.m. in Hong Kong trading.

Sales posted the largest gain for the period in Lenovo’s mature-markets division, which included the effect of Yang’s acquisitions. Revenue from the U.S., Japan and Western Europe jumped 85 percent to $3.4 billion in the quarter.

Acquisitions-led Growth

“Probably half of the growth is coming from acquisitions,” Alberto Moel, who rates Lenovo shares market perform at Sanford C Bernstein & Co. in Hong Kong, said before the announcement. “Their organic growth is still pretty good, and they have managed to pick up market share across the board.”

Lenovo, which bought the PC division of International Business Machines Corp. in 2005, said revenue from China rose 32 percent to $2.9 billion in the quarter, or 39 percent of the company’s total.

Sales in its emerging-market division, which includes India and Russia, rose 43 percent to $1.2 billion.

[LENOVO ARCHIVE: Check out six years of Lenovo stories as reported in WRAL Tech Wire by clicking here.]

 

(The AP and Bloomberg contributed to this report.)