ZTE crippled by sanctions, expects to report full-year loss

Chinese manufacturer ZTE saw profits tumble in the third quarter of its trading year as White House sanctions hit the telecommunications equipment maker where it hurt.

ZTE posted a third-quarter net profit of 564m yuan (£63.44m) in its first trading quarter since tough US sanctions forced it to stop almost all business operations between April and July as it worked to pay off $1.4bn in penalties for misleading regulators after the company broke trading embargoes against Iran and North Korea.

However, ZTE told investors that despite the unexpected profit, the Hong Kong-listed group still expects to post a full-year loss of as much as CNY 元7.2bn (£809.95m), compared to its CNY 元4.57bn (£514.33m) profit in 2017.

In addition to the 65% year-on-year profit drop, revenues fell 14.3% to CNY 元19.33bn (£2.17bn).

As of 1145 BST, ZTE shares had slipped 1.09% to CNY 元17.25.