Lenovo fourth quarter net profit up 59 percent, meets forecasts

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Lenovo Group Ltd <0992.HK>, the world's No.2 PC maker by sales, reported a 59 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit, meeting analyst expectations as strong demand in emerging markets such as China offset weakness in Europe.

Lenovo, which ranks just behind Hewlett Packard Co in PC sales, posted a net profit of $472.99 million for the fiscal year ended March, it said on Wednesday, versus a consensus forecast of $472.2 million from a poll of 29 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The PC maker recorded a net profit of $273.236 million a year earlier, it said in a statement posted on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

That meant Lenovo, which has diversified into smartphones, tablet PCs and smart TVs, earned $66.8 million for the fourth quarter, versus a consensus forecast of $66 million, based on Reuters' calculation using unaudited nine-month financial data.

The Beijing-headquartered PC maker has been grabbing market share over the past year through acquisitions in Europe and Japan, but Europe's economic doldrums and a shortage of hard disks has dampened its outlook.

Since the beginning of this year, Lenovo shares have climbed about 30 percent compared with the Hang Seng Index's <.HSI> 1.6 percent gain.

(Reporting by Lee Chyen Yee; Editing by Matt Driskill and Chris Lewis)