By Josh Ye
HONG KONG (Reuters) – China’s Lenovo Group Ltd on Thursday posted a 16% fall in revenue for the three months through September, meeting market expectations, as supply for personal computers (PCs) continued to outstrip demand.
Lenovo’s quarterly revenue fell 16% to $14.41 billion from the same period last year, marking the fifth consecutive quarter that the world’s largest PC maker has suffered a sales decline as it continues to digest excess inventory accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The result compared with the $14.45 billion average of seven analyst estimates compiled by LSEG.
In May, Lenovo reported 14% revenue decline for the year through March, its first annual fall since 2019, following a pandemic-induced boom for electronics manufacturers.
The COVID-19 outbreak brought a surge in both enterprise and personal electronics sales as the world embraced remote work. However, revenue started contracting last year as supply began to outstrip demand.
Worldwide PC shipments fell 7% in the second quarter of 2023, showed data from researcher Canalys. Quarterly shipment decline surpassed 30% late last year but the pace has slowed in recent quarters.
To improve profit margins, Lenovo has been expanding non-PC businesses, such as smartphones, servers and information technology (IT) services.
Throughout the first half of its fiscal year, revenue from Lenovo’s digital solution service business rose 14% to $3.6 billion.
Overall net income attributable to shareholders in the second fiscal quarter fell 60% to $249 million versus analysts’ $235 million estimate.
The price of Lenovo shares fell 3.58% after the earnings release, compared with a 1.65% decline in the benchmark index.
(Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
