Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo’s chairman, hailed the Chinese group’s jump in smartphone sales abroad as a vindication of the decision to shift its focus away from the slowing and saturated local market towards countries including Russia and India.

The world’s largest maker of personal computers, which also makes smartphones, saw its Hong Kong-listed shares rise 5.6 per cent to HK$7.69 yesterday after overshooting analysts’ consensus earnings forecasts for the three months to September 30.

The results follow job cuts in August amid weak China sales — restructuring costs which prompted Lenovo yesterday to report a second-quarter net loss of $714m. This was less than analysts’ consensus forecasts of an $803m loss, while sales during the period rose 16 per cent year on year to $12.2bn, beating predictions of $11.8bn.