This archive report was first published on 30 July 2019.
Chinese multinational Huawei has posted a remarkable half-year revenue of Ksh6.07 trillion, despite facing a geopolitical tiff with US President Donald Trump and sanctions imposed on the company.
According to the tech firm, its revenue growth in the first half of 2019 was 23% year on year, a significant increase from the 15% growth recorded in the same period in 2018.
Notably, Huawei's revenues in the first half of 2019 amount to double the national budget of Kenya, which stands at approximately Ksh3.01 trillion for the financial year 2019/20.
However, the tech firm's profit margin for the first half of the year slowed down to 8%, compared to the 14% profit margin increase recorded in the previous year.
Despite the challenges, Huawei's Chairman, Liang Hua, acknowledged that the company is facing difficulties ahead, which may affect its growth in the short term.
“That’s not to say we don’t have difficulties ahead. We do, and they may affect the pace of our growth in the short term,” said Liang Hua.
Huawei's consumer business division saw a significant increase in sales revenue, reaching Ksh3.3 trillion, driven by an upsurge in the sale of its devices, including smartphones and tablets.
“Huawei’s smartphone shipments (including Honor phones) reached 118 million units, up 24% YoY. The company also saw rapid growth in its shipments of tablets, PCs, and wearables,” the company stated.
Additionally, Huawei's carrier business recorded a sales revenue of Ksh2.2 trillion, driven by steady growth in production and shipment of equipment for wireless networks, optical transmission, data communications, and IT.
“Huawei has secured 50 commercial 5G contracts and has shipped more than 150,000 base stations to markets around the world,” the tech firm wrote.
Huawei's enterprise business also saw a significant increase in sales revenue, reaching Ksh478 billion, driven by the company's ICT portfolio across multiple domains, including cloud, artificial intelligence, campus networks, data centers, Internet of Things, and intelligent computing.
