Tech Brief (May 27): Xiaomi’s First-Quarter Profit Drops 43%

Xiaomi’s profit drops 43%

Xiaomi Corp.’s adjusted net profit fell 43.1% in the first quarter, missing analysts’ expectations as surging memory-chip costs, weaker smartphone shipments and slower electric-vehicle deliveries weighed on the Hong Kong-listed company. Revenue fell 10.9% from a year earlier to 99.14 billion yuan ($14.6 billion), below the LSEG consensus estimate of 103.4 billion yuan. Adjusted net profit came in at 6.07 billion yuan, short of the 6.4 billion yuan forecast. Smartphone revenue, which accounts for nearly half of total sales, fell 12.5% to 44.3 billion yuan. President Lu Weibing said Xiaomi had deliberately reduced inventory of low- and mid-end devices in distribution channels. Auto revenue totaled 19 billion yuan in the quarter. The average selling price fell to 235,000 yuan from 250,000 yuan in the fourth quarter, reflecting purchase-tax subsidies and lower-priced inventory clearance.