Sanction-hit Huawei says revenues down 29% this year

Chinese telecom giant Huawei said on Friday its annual revenue had fallen by nearly a third from the previous year, as it continued to be weighed down by US sanctions that have hit its smartphone sales.

Huawei has been caught in the crossfire of a US-China trade and technology rivalry after the administration of former president Donald Trump moved to cripple the company over concerns it could pose a cybersecurity and espionage threat.

Huawei is not publicly listed, and the message did not give any other financial specifics.

This month, the company launched a new foldable phone and said 220 million Huawei devices were running its HarmonyOS system.

But it has fallen well down the smartphone ranks owing to US pressure.

In October, the group said its January-September sales volume had fallen 32%.

But a major complication for the company was solved this year with the return to China of chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei.

She spent nearly three years under house arrest in Canada on a US extradition warrant, which China said was motivated by politics.

Meng was released a month ago after US prosecutors announced an agreement under which fraud charges were to be suspended and eventually dropped.