A year after its acquisition of IBM’s PC division, Chinese PC vendor Lenovo has claimed it is making “steady” progress, despite incurring a HK$87m loss across EMEA.
The firm, which released its financial year 2005/2006 results only last week, recorded turnover in EMEA of HK$5.1bn or 21 per cent of worldwide turnover. During the year ended 31 March 2006, the vendor also saw global PC shipments rise by 11 per cent, although EMEA PC shipments fell by three per cent.
William Amelio, chief executive of Lenovo, said in a statement: “We’re making steady progress. We are extremely pleased with our accomplishments over the past year.
“We have confidence in our ability to take the appropriate measures for sustainable, profitable growth. We will grow and win by excelling in innovation, superior customer satisfaction, and operational excellence.”
To increase channel business, the vendor recently announced a pledge to reduce its lead-time by three days (CRN, 22 May).
However, Shaune Parsons, managing director of VAR Computer World Wales, felt Lenovo is still reeling from its $1.75bn acquisition of IBM’s PC division (CRN, 9 May 2005).
“Lenovo is trying hard with its channel in the UK,” he said. “But it is also still trying to fish out a lot of legacy IBM kit left over after the acquisition.”
Parsons added that branding has proved to be one of Lenovo’s main and toughest hurdles.
“A lot of end-users still think they are buying IBM PCs,” he said. “Lenovo needs to spend a lot more on its own branding to increase EMEA sales. It has to be ready to cut prices to keep up with the big boys and have the right stock available when it’s required.”
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