Chinese tech giant Huawei’s revenue growth applied brakes sharply in the first quarter of 2020. However, the company labeled the performance as ‘resilient’ owing to the pressure from the USA and the impact of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.
As per a report by Reuters, the company said that its revenue during the first quarter rose by about 1 percent to 182.2 billion yuan (about USD 25.72 billion). The figure shows a sharp downfall when compared to the Q1 2019 figure of 39 percent. Huawei’s net profit margin over the year also came down from 8 percent to 7.3 percent.
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The company did not reveal its net profit. “The growth rate has slowed, but this is also a resilient performance in the face of both the entity list and the coronavirus we are facing at this moment,” said Huawei Vice President Victor Zhang in a statement on Tuesday.
Huawei deals with US-trade issues and Coronavirus crisis
The USA blacklisted Huawei in May 2019 owing to national security concerns. Restricting the sales of US-made goods in the country. The move also barred Huawei’s technology to partner with any US-based service. A major hit was hence given to Huawei’s smartphones, which were suddenly not allowed to use the Android operating system anymore. The company later turned in its weakest annual profit growth compared to the last three years in 2019.
If that wasn’t enough, Huawei also faced the effects of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic which originated in the brand’s home country China. Zhang said it was difficult to gauge what that would be in the short or long term, as he presented the results from London rather than Huawei’s Shenzen base to mark 20 years of business in Europe.
Zhang also denied having an alternate motive behind the company donating millions of protective masks to countries across Europe amid the rise in Coronavirus cases there. Critics say the move could be a ploy to win contracts after the EU restricted Huawei’s role in 5G networks to address cybersecurity risks. However, Huawei has denied that its equipment poses any risk.
