Relatively small growth at its carrier network business was not enough to stop Huawei posting bumper profits and sales, boosted by a strong performance at its consumer division.

In a statement, Eric Xu (pictured), rotating and acting CEO, cited factors including “favourable global macroeconomic and industry environment, as well as the effective execution of our company strategy”.

In 2013, its carrier networks unit saw relatively modest revenue growth which, being the company’s largest operating unit, had a significant impact on the overall increase.

But as with many of its peers, Huawei is well positioned to benefit from the rollout of LTE technology in China.

For the year, the company reported a profit of CNY21 billion ($3.38 billion), up 34.4 per cent from CNY15.62 billion, on revenue of CNY239 billion, up 8.6 per cent from CNY220.2 billion.

Its carrier networks unit, which makes up the bulk of its activities, saw revenue growth of 4 per cent, to reach CNY166.5 billion. Of this, sales revenue from wireless network equipment was CNY52.5 billion.

Its enterprise unit saw growth of 32.4 per cent to CNY15.2 billion, while its consumer business saw a 17.8 per cent increase to CNY57 billion.

Smartphone shipments reached 52 million units, an annual increase of more than 60 per cent. Smartphones accounted for more than 87 per cent of total mobile phone sales.

The company earned 65 per cent of its revenue from markets outside of China. In its home country, it achieved CNY84 billion in sales revenue, up 14.2 per cent.

Huawei said that in 2013 it invested CNY30.7 billion in R&D, representing around 12.8 per cent of sales revenue.

For the coming year, the company said that it sees “the growing penetration of ultra-broadband and mobile broadband, particularly LTE, as an important strategic opportunity”.

It also cited smart devices as a key area, “as they become more and more of an intrinsic necessity to ‘digital natives’ and extensions of people’s sensory systems”.

Xu said: “While continuing to pursue a more focused strategy and a leaner management style in 2014, we will work to expedite steady growth to lay a solid foundation for the company’s development over the next 10 years, especially to pursue a leading position in the Enterprise business”.

From tomorrow, Guo Ping will become acting CEO of the company, in line with its policy of rotating CEOs.