Huawei: Chinese firm reduced to a shadow of former size as UK restrictions bite

Turnover at the UK arm of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has been slashed by more than £1bn since 2019 as the impact of UK and US restrictions bite.

The London-headquartered business has reported a turnover of £229.56m for 2023, down from the £359m it posted in 2022.

The latest figure comes after Huawei’s turnover totalled £481m in 2021, £931.2m in 2020 and £1.26bn in 2019.

According to newly-filed accounts with Companies House, the firm’s pre-tax profit also fell from £17.5m to £11.4m in 2023.

In 2021 its pre-tax profit stood at £16.7m while it reported totals of £36.4m in 2020 and £38m in 2019.

The average number of people employed by Huawei in the year fell from 351 to 260. In 2019, Huawei’s headcount stood at almost 900.

In October 2022, the UK government announced that Huawei technology must be removed from the UK’s 5G public networks by the end of 2027.

Huawei to ‘remain profitable’ despite falling sales

A statement signed off by the board said: “Revenue in 2023 decreased by 36.1 per cent primarily due to planned downsizing of the business as a result of UK restrictions in relation to UK telecommunications operators’ use of certain Huawei products and services, and US restrictions in relation to the company’s use of Google Mobile Services on its products.

“Gross profit in 2023 decreased by 75.4 per cent primarily as a result of the company’s updated classification of certain costs between cost of sales and administrative expenses.”

Huawei added: “Moving forward, the company will focus on the sale of products and services that are not impacted by the UK or US restrictions.

“Although the business scale is expected to decline as a result of this external environment, the directors believe the company is well positioned to continue its sales and profitability in 2024.”

The company also said: “Whilst online sales continue in the company’s consumer business and our network engineers are still able to continue to work at customer sites… it is certain that revenue in 2024 will fall further from 2023 levels.

“However, the company is confident that it will continue to execute its business plan, underpinned by the underlying technical, operating and financial strength of the company and the group, and it will remain profitable.”