Xiaomi posts 20% revenue fall, hurt by China COVID curbs

© Reuters. A delivery worker walks out of a Xiaomi store in Shanghai, China November 1, 2021. Picture taken November 1, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song

By Josh Horwitz

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi (OTC:XIACF) Corp posted a steep drop in second quarter revenue on Friday as the world's biggest smartphone market shrank, hit by strict COVID restrictions.

Sales fell 20% year on year to 70.17 billion yuan ($10.31 billion), missing estimates and marking a steeper decline from the previous quarter, when the company posted its first-ever revenue drop since listing.

Net income fell 67% to 2.08 billion yuan, missing analysts' estimates.

China's consumer consumption has struggled to rebound from the impact of lockdowns in Shanghai and other cities in the first half of the year.

Data this week showed China's economy slowed unexpectedly in July, indicating the world's second largest economy is struggling to shake off the June quarter's hit to growth from COVID restrictions and prompting a central bank rate cut.

China's long-stagnant smartphone sector has been especially hit by the downturn, with unit shipments down 10% year on year in the second quarter, according to research firm Canalys.

Smartphone sales for Xiaomi, which generate more than half of the company's total revenue, fell 29%.

In 2021, Xiaomi saw a sales surge after it grabbed market share from rival Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, whose ability to proscure components was heavily cripled by U.S. sanctions.

Yet the bump was short-lived, and the company's stock price has tumbled nearly 40% since the start of 2022, hit by the slowing Chinese economy and weakening overseas growth.

In India, Xiaomi's strongest market outside of China, the company has been subject to government probes for allegedly dodging tax regulators.

In April, Indian tax authorities seized $725 million in assets from the company, claiming it illegally transferred funds abroad under the guise of royalty payents. Xiaomi has denied any wrongdoing.

The weak smartphone market in China and globally has led the company to seek new opportunities.

Xiaomi said earlier this month it had started testing self-driving vehicles in select cities in China.

($1 = 6.8069 Chinese yuan renminbi)