Huawei had an excellent year despite foreign security concerns

It looks like 2014 was an exceptionally good year for Huawei which not only saw a 33% increase in net profit over the previous year, but also saw a rise in demand across all areas, from smartphones to telecommunications equipment. This is especially impressive when you consider how difficult the company’s closeness with the Chinese government has made expanding into foreign markets. That didn’t hinder Huawei last year and, with an anticipated 20% growth for 2015, the company doesn’t believe it will be hindered this year either. 

Huawei has announced its net profit for 2014, which saw a 33 percent rise over the previous year. As well as an increase in smartphone sales, Huawei has also seen a rise in demand for its telecommunications equipment, as the global 4G rollout continues. Net profit rose to 27.9 billion yuan (USD 4.5 billion) last year on the back of a 21 percent increase in global revenue, which reached 288.2 billion yuan (USD 36.8 billion). Huawei is estimating that its global revenue will grow by another 20 percent this year as well. However, Huawei saw its operating margins fall to 11.9 percent in 2014 compared with 12.2 percent in 2013. Looking more specifically at hardware, Huawei’s consumer device division, aka smartphones, saw its biggest leap in revenue last year. Revenues rose 32.6 percent, ahead of the enterprise division which grew 27.3 percent. Huawei is hovering around the top five spot for global smartphone shipments, depending on who you ask, with the bulk of its shipments heading to Asia and emerging markets.