Lenovo quarterly profit rises 64% despite 'challenging' industry

The world's biggest personal computer-maker, Lenovo, said first-quarter earnings rose 64% to $173m (£132m), beating market expectations.

The Chinese firm said its PC business had delivered "strong profits" despite a slowdown in the overall market.

However, revenue fell by 6% from a year earlier to $10.1bn in the three months to June.

Lenovo attributed that to the "challenging" environment and the decline in China's currency.

The Chinese firm has been aggressively cutting costs and investing in new growth areas such as cloud computing.

"Our PC business delivered strong profits and our smartphone business stabilised compared to last quarter," Lenovo chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang said in a statement.

"Although the macro-economy and our industries remain challenging, causing a decline in our revenue, we significantly improved our profit year-on-year through innovative products and strong execution," he said.