China’s Lenovo has announced its net profit grew 29 percent for the business year that just ended, to the equivalent of 597.5 million euros. <br /><br />Lenovo is now the world’s fourth-biggest seller of smartphones, and it was strong phone sales that boosted its earnings, countering weak growth in China from a decline in sales of its once-mainstay personal computers.<br /><br />The company – which became a global brand in 2005 after purchasing the PC unit of International Business Machines – is buying Google’s Motorola Mobility smartphone unit for $2.9 billion (2.12 billion euros) and IBM’s low-end computer server division for $2.3 billion (1.68 billion euros). <br /><br />Analysts see tough times ahead for Lenovo, saying it may take at least until the end of this year to make those acquisitions profitable. <br /><br />Chief Executive Yang Yuanqing said the acquisitions would weigh on finances in the near term.<br /><br />with Reuters
