By Josh Ye
HONG KONG (Reuters) -China’s Lenovo Group posted a 6.8% rise in fourth-quarter revenue, its slowest growth in seven quarters, as people shopped for fewer of its personal computers after months of strong pandemic demand.
Revenue rose to $16.69 billion in the quarter ended March 31 from $15.63 billion a year earlier, below an average analyst estimate of $17.36 billion drawn from 9 analysts, according to Refinitiv.
But net income attributable to shareholders for the world’s biggest maker of personal computers rose to $412 million, exceeding analysts’ expectations.
A bellwether for the global PC market, the Beijing-based company led the market with a 23.1% share in the January-March period, according to data from research firm Counterpoint.
A rush to buy PCs during the pandemic culminated in record sales and profit for Lenovo in the December quarter. But sales have begun to lose steam as China, the company’s biggest market, has been hit by the Omicron variant, prompting many cities to impose lockdowns and shut factories.
(Reporting by Josh Ye; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Stephen Coates)
