TheShelf - Issue 01 Nov. 2013 | Page 11

Lenovo The Shelf speaks to Mohammed Hilili, GM, Lenovo Gulf, to understand the company’s market expansion plans ng isi Ra he t ar b smartphone supplier and the fastest growing supplier, with growth of 132%. Top line and bottom line grew significantly, but more importantly, profits outgrew revenues and margin expanded: Q1 revenue was $8.8 billion, up 10% YoY, while profit was $174 million, up 23%. Lenovo outgrew the overall market for the 17th quarter in a row in Q1 FY13/14 in a market that declined 11%YoY. And for the 15th quarter in a row, Lenovo realized growth in sales and profit. Further demonstrating balance, Lenovo’s MIDH revenues – which include smartphone, tablet and smart TV products – accounted for 14% of revenue in Q1 FY13/14, up from 7% year over year. Raising the bar aising the bar aising the bar aising the mmed Moha ovo Gulf en Hilili, L l Manager era Gen In a fledging PC industry, Lenovo is bucking the trend with soaring sales and a leapfrog to number one in the world for PC shipments. How are you achieving this? Our Protect & Attack strategy is proving to be the right strategy for the mobile and consumer focused PC Plus era. Lenovo has strong business momentum with record market share, improved profitability and a more balanced business. It is our long-term formula for success. We continue to protect PCs as a stronghold, while we rapidly scale innovation to attack smartphone and tablet markets to become a PC Plus leader. Current market trends play to Lenovo’s strengths including the shift from premium to mainstream products and from mature to emerging markets, while Lenovo is expanding the focus beyond market share to driving innovation and PC Plus leadership. For the first time ever, Lenovo was named the number 1 PC supplier in the world by IDC and Gartner recording its highest-ever quarterly market share of 16.7% in Q1 FY13/14. In another first, Lenovo’s combined shipments of smartphones and tablets surpassed PCs during Q1 FY13/14 according to IDC, which ranked Lenovo the world’s 4th largest www.redingtonmea.com Indeed, many eyebrows were raised when your CEO said he still believes PCs are still relevant, but if the above is anything to go by, he was right. Tell us more about this ‘PC plus era’, and how it is influencing   your strategy? Becoming a PC Plus leader is the most critical challenge for Lenovo since we became a global company with the IBM PCD acquisition in 2005 and we are well positioned to succeed. First, we have the innovation and in-house manufacturing capability to bring new exciting products to market quickly and efficiently. Second, the market is shifting from premium to mainstream products. According to IDC data, mainstream categories are seeing rapid growth (SP more than 75% year-onyear, Tablet 181%) that far outstrips premium (SP 9.8% year-on-year; Tablet -11.6%). While the PC market still represents a $200B opportunity and offers substantial opportunity for For more information, please write to [email protected] Issue 01 11