Huawei 2021 profit jumps 76% on asset sale; CFO Meng returns to the limelight.


In its biggest ever annual gain, net profit rose to 113.7 billion yuan ($17.8 billion), the smartphone and computer giant said. Last year’s jump, when growth was just 3.2% in 2020, marked the impact of asset sales in the wake of US sanctions and weaker domestic consumer demand in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.

But revenue fell 29% to 636.8 billion yuan, in line with Huawei’s previous forecast in December.

“Despite a decline in revenue in 2021, our ability to make profits and generate cash flow is increasing, and we are better able to weather uncertainty,” Meng said during an event broadcast live from headquarters. of the Shenzhen company.

Guo Ping, who currently serves as Huawei’s rotating chairman, said the performance was in line with his expectations.

Meng’s detention in Canada came just before former US President Donald Trump’s administration imposed a Huawei trade ban, citing national security concerns. The restrictions have prevented the company from using Alphabet Inc.’s Android for its new smartphones, among other critical US-sourced technologies.

US sanctions, along with the coronavirus, weighed on Huawei, prompting it to sell its midrange phone division, Honor, in November 2020. The company received its first payment for the deal in March 2021.

Huawei also sold its x86 server division around the same time.

Meng, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, played a pivotal role in the standoff between Huawei and the United States. She was detained in December 2018 in Vancouver after a New York court issued a warrant for her arrest, saying she had tried to cover up attempts by Huawei-linked companies to sell equipment to Iran in violation of US sanctions. .

She was allowed to return to China in September last year after reaching an agreement with US prosecutors to end a bank fraud case, and returned to work the following month.

In the years since its entry into US sanctions, the company has stepped up research and development in areas such as green energy and autonomous driving.

It also accelerated sales of its existing line of consumer hardware products. Revenue from wearables and smart displays increased 30 percent year-on-year, Huawei said.

($1 = 6.3747 Chinese yuan renminbi)



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