China's Huawei posts 28 percent rise in 2017 net profit

HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's Huawei Technologies, the world's third-largest smartphone maker, posted a 28 percent rise in 2017 net profit, driven by cost controls and a solid performance in its home market.

Shenzhen-based Huawei saw 2017 net profit rising to 47.5 billion yuan ($7.3 billion), a big rebound from last year's 0.4 percent increase.

The outlook for Huawei, the world's No. 3 smartphone maker, is overshadowed by strong competition in China's handset market, although the company has made strides in Europe against rivals Samsung Electronics and Apple.

Revenue grew 15.7 percent to 603.6 billion yuan, in line with what the company had earlier flagged, marking its slowest growth in four years.

Huawei has vowed to focus on improving profit after posting the slowest profit growth in five years in 2016 as its thin-margin smartphone business weighed down profit growth.

(Reporting by Sijia Jiang and Farah Master; Editing by Sunil Nair)