In 2020, Huawei's profit increased by 3.2 percent

Huawei Technologies posted moderate annual profit growth for 2020, as overseas sales fell due to the pandemic's disruption and the company's inclusion on a US export blacklist.

Net profit for 2020 was 64.6 billion yuan ($9.83 billion), up 3.2 percent from the previous year's 5.6 percent increase.

Former US President Donald Trump put Huawei on an export blacklist in 2019 and banned it from accessing vital US-made technology, limiting its ability to design its own chips and source components from outside vendors.

The ban placed Huawei's handset business under severe strain, prompting the company to sell its low-cost smartphone division to a group of agents and dealers in November 2020 in order to keep it alive.

"We've held strong in the face of adversity over the last year," Ken Hu, Huawei's rotating chairman, said at an event at the company's Shenzhen headquarters.

"We experienced a downturn in growth in 2020, and life was not easy for us. The restrictions imposed by the United States have had an effect on our consumer business, especially our mobile phone business."

The ban placed Huawei's phone business below severe strain, prompting the corporate to sell its inexpensive smartphone division to a gaggle of agents and dealers in Nov 2020 so as to stay it alive.

"We've control sturdy within the face of adversity over the last year," Ken Hu, Huawei's rotating chairman, aforesaid at an incident at the company's Shenzhen headquarters.

"We practiced a downswing in growth in 2020, and life wasn't straightforward for the U.S. The restrictions obligatory by us have had a bearing on our shopper business, particularly our transportable business."

Nonetheless, Huawei's consumer market, which includes smartphones, produced 482.9 billion yuan in revenue, up 3.3 percent year on year and accounting for more than half of the company's revenue.

Though Hu did not say how much revenue from smartphones fell, he did say that it was offset by a 65 percent increase in revenues from connected devices like smartwatches and laptops, as well as other devices.

The company is optimistic that it can maintain its market leadership and that it has sufficient supply stockpiles to meet consumer demands.

The company's carrier service, which includes 5G network equipment, took in 302.6 billion yuan, a rise of just 0.2 percent a year earlier.

Huawei's growth was fueled by its home market, with sales up 15.4% to 584.9 billion yuan in China.

Revenues in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa fell 12.2 percent to 180.8 billion yuan, in the rest of Asia fell 8.7 percent to 64.4 billion yuan, and in the Americas, revenues fell 24.5 percent to 39.6 billion yuan.

Hu said he couldn't tell how much of the drop was due to the pandemic's effects or geopolitical factors, but he was optimistic that overseas revenues would rebound in 2021.

Huawei is privately owned, but in recent years it has published annual reports audited by U.S. company KPMG in a bid for transparency.

The enterprise segment's revenue increased by 23% year on year to 100.3 billion yuan, despite being the smallest of the three industry groups in terms of revenue.

In 2020, the company will spend 141.9 billion yuan on R&D, up from 131.7 billion yuan the previous year.

Huawei's operating cash flow was 35.2 billion yuan, down 61.5 percent from the previous year. According to Hu, this was attributed to increased spending on stockpiling materials and increased R&D spending last year.