Lenovo quarterly profit nearly doubles

Lenovo Group, the world’s No. 3 personal computer manufacturer, said Thursday its profit in the latest quarter nearly doubled on strong sales in emerging markets.

Profit for the three months ending June 30 was $108 million, or 1.11 U.S. cents per share, up 98 percent from a year ago, the company said. It said sales rose 15 percent to $5.9 billion and its global market share hit a new high of 12.2 percent.

Lenovo, which acquired IBM Corp.’s PC unit in 2005, overtook Taiwan’s Acer Group this year to become the third-largest PC vendor, according to International Data Corp.

“Our global market share has now reached double-digits and we have attained a double-digit share in a greater number of our strategic markets,” said CEO Yang Yuanqing in a statement. “Starting this year, we are advancing to a more balanced strategy of continuing to grow, while shifting our focus more on profitability.”

Lenovo is expanding into mobile Internet and in developed markets with an acquisition this year in Germany and a joint venture with Japan’s NEC Corp.

The company launched a smartphone and two Web-linked portable computers last year to compete with Apple Inc., South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Corp. and Taiwan’s HTC Corp.

Lenovo said its PC shipments in Africa, Latin America and other emerging markets rose 45.7 percent in the latest quarter over a year ago.

In China, which provides nearly half of Lenovo’s sales, shipments rose 23.4 percent in the quarter. Shipments in North America rose 30.8 percent while those in Japan were up 14 percent.

Lenovo announced its acquisition of Germany’s Medion AG, a maker of multimedia products and consumer electronics in June. It said that would make it the second-largest PC vendor in Europe’s biggest computer market.

Also this year, Lenovo launched a joint venture with Japan’s NEC Corp., expanding its presence in the Japanese market.