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HONG KONG (Reuters) – Lenovo Group Ltd (0992.HK), the world's No.4 PC brand, more than tripled its fourth-quarter gain profit, fighting forecasts on burly obligation from commercial customers and making up for a slowdown in the consumer sector.

Lenovo reportable a gain acquire of $42.13 meg in the January-March quarter, up from $12.8 meg a assemblage earlier, according to Reuters calculations supported on flooded assemblage results.

This was meliorate than expectations for a $36.7 meg gain profit, supported on a analyse of 23 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"Momentum in commercial PC obligation has gradually picked up, benefitting from the corporate change cycle, patch consumer PC obligation weakened cod to a worsening macroeconomic surround and increasing rivalry from paper products," the consort said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The ascension popularity of smartphones and tablets, much as Apple's (AAPL.O) iPhone and iPad, has eaten into PC sales by vendors much as Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N), but Lenovo hopes to expand its share of the ambulatory mart with its LePhone smartphone and LePad paper PC.

For the business assemblage that ended March, Lenovo's gain acquire totaled $273.23 million, also higher than a consensus prognosticate of $267.8 million.

Lenovo's results came a hebdomad after rivals Dell delivered stellar quarterly results and Hewlett-Packard frustrated markets by slashing its 2011 earnings forecasts.

China continued to be the star performer, business for 46.4 proportionality of the company's sales as it looked to smaller cities and rural areas to move growing.

However, operative margins fell 0.5 proportionality points to 5.1 proportionality cod to higher marketing costs from the LePhone and LePad ambulatory products, the consort said.

Like its rivals, Lenovo has been looking to ambulatory products as PC computers become progressively commoditized and tablets begin cannibalizing demand, compressing margins and symptom the bottom distinction of peers much as Taiwan's Acer (2353.TW).

Feature sound shipments grew 40 proportionality from the foregoing year, Lenovo said, serving it acquire its mart share to 4.7 proportionality in China.

Lenovo shares fell 11 proportionality in January-March, lagging a 2.1 proportionality gain in the criterion Hang Seng Index (.HSI).

On Thursday, Lenovo's shares were up 0.7 proportionality before the results were announced, compared with the Hang Seng's 0.67 proportionality rise.

(Editing by Matt Driskill and Jacqueline Wong)

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