Huawei H1 profit drops 32%

Huawei Technologies saw a nearly one-third decline in profit in the first half of the year, despite reclaiming the throne in China’s smartphone market, according to a filing from its shareholding entity Huawei Investment & Holding, reports the South China Morning Post. Net profit during the period fell 32% year on year to RMB 37.2 billion ($5.2 billion), while revenue grew 4% to RMB 427 billion, according to a filing to the Shanghai Clearing House on Friday. Privately owned Huawei regularly discloses its corporate bond issuances to the clearing institution.

Huawei did not offer any explanation for the profit decline, but said first-half expenditure for research and development (R&D) rose 9% to RMB 97 billion, equal to 23% of its revenue. In comparison, the company’s R&D expenditure in the same period last year was equal to 22% of its revenue.

From April to June, Huawei regained top spot in the domestic smartphone market for the first time in four years, shipping 12.5 million units to capture 18% market share in the period. However, its shipments were down 3.4% compared with the same period in the previous year, according to market research firm IDC.