Lenovo Group Ltd reported yesterday a better-than-expected jump of 177 percent in net profit year on year in the third quarter due to the booming laptop computer business and robust global demand.

Lenovo, which acquired IBM's personal computer business for US$1.25 billion, said it will switch completely from IBM to the Lenovo brand, two years ahead of schedule, Lenovo's chief executive William Amelio revealed.

China's top computer maker, which ranks No. 3 globally, posted a net profit of US$105.26 million in its fiscal second quarter ended on September 30, against US$37.89 million a year earlier. The result beat analysts' average forecast of US$88 million.

Revenue totaled US$4.4 billion, a 20-percent growth from a year ago.

Lenovo will continue to penetrate emerging markets including China, the small and medium firms in developed countries and laptops in future, Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo's chairman, said in a statement.

Lenovo generated laptop revenue of US$2.5 billion which accounted for 56 percent of the company's total revenue. The company's profit margin rose to 15.1 percent in the quarter from 13.0 percent a year ago.

Among the top five vendors in Asia Pacific, Lenovo, Dell and Acer gained market share while Hewlett Packard, the global market leader, lost sales in the quarter, according to IDC, a US-based IT research firm.

PC sales in the region totaled 16.1 million units in the third quarter, up 24 percent annually.

Lenovo retained its leadership in the Asia Pacific PC market with a market share of 21.3 percent, followed by HP, Dell, Acer and Founder, according to IDC.

(Shanghai Daily November 2, 2007)