Lenovo surges as mobile pays off

Shares of Lenovo Group Ltd surged almost 12 percent on the Hong Kong market on Thursday after the company posted a better-than-expected result for the fiscal quarter ended December 31.

Lenovo reported a quarterly net profit of US$233 million, above analysts’ expectations of US$200 million and compared with a 2 billion yuan (US$297 million) loss same period a year earlier.

Mobile sales led the rebound, with the segment reporting its first profit since Lenovo’s acquisition of Motorola in 2014.

Revenue grew 8.5 percent year on year to US$14 billion, the highest quarterly figure in four years.

Lenovo closed 11.9 percent higher on Thursday at HK$6.67 (85 US cents), compared with the overall 0.41 percent gain for the Heng Seng Index.

Lenovo has “set out on our journey of 'Intelligent Transformation' to deliver record-breaking results this quarter and is only getting stronger,” Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo Chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

That transformation means diversifying from the company's core PC business into mobile and data center operations.