Huawei flags record profits despite US blacklisting

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies flagged record profits for 2019 on Tuesday, despite a tumultuous year that has seen the United States and its allies blacklist the firm.

"Despite concerted efforts by the US government to keep us down, we've made it out the other side and continue to create value for our customers," said rotating chairman Eric Xu is a New Year message pushed across Huawei's social media accounts.

Xu boasts that Huawei sales revenue will top 850 billion yuan in 2019 ($122 billion), representing a year-on-year increase of roughly 18 percent, according to Deutsche press agency (dpa).

"These figures are lower than our initial projections," Xu admitted, adding that they "stand strong in the face of adversity."
In 2018, Huawei's annual revenue grew 19.5 percent.

Huawei, the world's largest maker of telecommunications network equipment and the second-biggest smartphone manufacturer, was placed on the US "entity list" in May, blocking the Shenzhen-based firm from doing business with US companies and disrupting their ability to source key components.

Washington maintains that Huawei hardware poses a national security threat to networks globally, as they could be used by the Chinese government to spy on users.
Huawei has repeatedly denied this.

In his message, Xu said he did not expect to removed from the blacklist in 2020, and cautioned that a "difficult year" lay ahead.