Lockdown laptops drive Lenovo to record profit

China's Lenovo has posted record profit and revenue for the third quarter.

The world's biggest maker of personal computers says consumers stuck at home are snapping up laptops and other gadgets.

That saw net profit jump 53% to a record 395 million dollars.

Revenue hit 17.25 billion dollars - also an all-time high.

Now the firm says it expects demand to stay strong even after lockdowns end, saying the new normal will continue.

Research firm Gartner says worldwide shipments of personal computers rose over 10% in the December quarter.

Lenovo strengthened its lead in that business, with market share of over 27%.

That put it ahead of HP on just under 20%, and Dell on 16.6%.

Now Lenovo says it wants to tap into China's booming stock market to fund future growth.

It's planning an IPO on Shanghai's Science and Technology Innovation Board.

That makes it the latest in a line of companies to seek a mainland stock listing.

Lenovo shares rose over 4% on Wednesday, outperforming the broader market.