Lenovo Group Ltd posted a better-than-expected 25 percent annual rise in net profit in its fiscal third quarter ended December 31 due to its growing Chinese business and corporate client sector in the United States and Europe, China's No. 1 personal computer maker said Thursday.

For future growth Lenovo is banking on the booming mobile Internet sector and its new US$175 million PC joint venture with Japan-based NEC Corp, which is expected to boost its revenue in the world's third-biggest PC market.

In the quarter, Lenovo's net profit was US$99.7 million, or 0.98 US cents a share, up from a profit of US$86.1 million forecast by analysts. Revenue rose 22 percent to US$5.81 billion, Lenovo said.

Lenovo's PC sales jumped 20 percent year on year, compared with 3.4 percent average for the industry. The results meant Lenovo, the world's No. 4 PC maker, grew faster than any of the top five PC makers for five straight quarters, according to the Beijing-based company.

"Our core PC business continues to deliver balanced growth,'' Lenovo chief executive Yang Yuanqing said in a statement.

Lenovo China's market share rose 2.4 percentage points during the quarter to an all-time high of 32.2 percent. The firm, which contributed almost half of the company's total revenue, posted income of US$2.7 billion, up 18 percent annually.

In the mature markets, Lenovo's revenue hit US$2 billion, an increase of 22 percent annually, on higher demand in commercial PC opportunities in Western Europe and North America.

In the third quarter, Lenovo Mobile's revenue was US$218 million. Its handset shipments in China grew 52.2 percent in the quarter, or five times the industry growth rate of 10.3 percent, the company said. It also launched the Le Pad tablet computer in January to challenge Apple Inc's iPad.

"At the same time, we saw great momentum in our mobile Internet business which has doubled sales of Lenovo smartphones from previous quarter. This growth was driven by investments in marketing, product development and the creation of a new, more focused mobile Internet and digital home business group," Yang said.