Huawei Technologies’ sales up 8 per cent to 220 billion yuan

Huawei Technologies reported a sales growth of 8 per cent to 220 billion yuan ($35.4 billion) last year, exceeding the amount generated by the world's biggest maker of wireless network equipment by revenue, Ericsson AB.

Net income at the closely-held Chinese company rose 33 per cent to 15.4 billion yuan, according to chief financial officer Cathy Meng Wanzhou who spoke at a briefing in Beijing, where she also gave the revenue figure. The event came as the first media briefing for Meng, the daughter of the company of the founder.

Revenue this year may be up as much as 12 per cent, according to Huawei, as it added smartphones, tablets and cloud-computing services, and benefited from investment in mobile-phone equipment in emerging markets.

Ericsson's sales probably did not change much from last year as telecommunications spending there was damped by the debt crisis, according to analysts'projections.

According to some analysts, Huawei would probably grow faster than Ericsson in the next couple of years. They said Huawei was entering new markets next to their core competencies and they were also addressing new customer segments, which was not the case with Ericsson.

Meng's father, Ren Zhengfei, established Huawei in 1987 after retiring from the PLA in 1983 and has built the company into the world's largest maker of equipment for phone networks after Ericsson.

The military background of Huwei's founder has posed challenges to the company especially its prospective expansion in ther West. According to estimates from Huawei Technologies Co the growth of the company would be 10 – 12 per cent in terms of revenue from its likely 2012 total of 220.2 billion yuan ($35.4 billion), Meng said Monday.

Meng told reporters in a news briefing that the company logged growth across all its businesses last year. If the revenues of the company were on target in 2013, growth would outpace the 8 per cent increase expected for 2012.

The company's profit is also expected to grow 33 per cent in 2012 to 15.4 billion yuan even as no 2013 profit forecast was given.

The company has plans for a 10 per cent research and development spend this year, in line with levels in its recent past.