Huawei bucks industry trend to deliver profit growth

Huawei Technologies saw its 2008 profit rise 20% year-on-year to US$1.15 billion, despite losing US$776 million due to currency fluctuations, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Shenzhen-based company posted revenues of US$18.33 billion, up 43% year-on-year. Huawei’s performance was significantly stronger than that of its major rivals in the telecommunications equipment field. Ericsson saw its profit fall 47.3% to US$1.36 billion in 2008 while Alcatel-Lucent posted a net loss of US$6.72 billion. However, Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China, a consultancy, queried the sustainability of Huawei’s position, particularly if emerging markets are hit by delayed effects of the global economic downturn. Huawei earns 75% of its revenues outside of China and expects contract sales growth in Europe to slip to 20% from 30% this year. Overall, the company projects a 29% jump in contract sales to US$30 billion.