Computer manufacturer Lenovo Group, which was reported to have interests in acquiring companies such as HCL Infosystems and Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry, on Wednesday said though the company will never depend on acquisitions, it is on the look out for such opportunities.
“Mergers and acquisitions (M & A) is a part of our business aiming through both organically and inorganically, but, we will never depend on acquisitions.
"We are talking to lot of companies globally, including India and all are in initial stages as we are understanding each other. Buying a company is easy but not integration,” Wong Wai Ming, Senior Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer, Lenovo Group, told reporters here.
Apart from M&As in India, he said the company will also look at manufacturing more of its products in the country, especially the smartphones, in the future. The company entered the smartphones market in November in India with five models priced between Rs 6,499 and Rs 28,499.
Available only in Southern States and Gujarat, the company said it will expand its smartphones availability to pan India by June-end.
The company will launch more models during this calendar year, said Amar Babu, Managing Director, Lenovo India.
Profit up 30%
Meanwhile, Lenovo Group has reported net profit of $205 million for the third quarter ended December 2012, up 30 per cent from $ 154 million in the same period previous year.
The company’s revenue in sales also grew by 12 per cent to $ 9.4 billion for the October-December quarter as compared to $ 8.4 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2011. As a norm, without sharing the country specific revenue numbers, the company said it has registered a growth of 11.3 per cent in India at par with other Asian countries.
“Lenovo has continued to grow faster than the overall market for the last nine consecutive quarters now. We will continue to invest in the India business,” said Babu.
He said the company expected to sustain this momentum of growth in the future.
Lenovo holds the numero uno position in overall personal computers sales in India with 16.9 per cent as per IDC’s quarter three (July-September 2012) report. Hewlett Packard and Acer follow with 15.6 per cent and 15.5 per cent, respectively, during the same period.
ronendrasingh.s@thehindu.co.in