China's Huawei says H1 sales revenue rose 40 percent year-on-year

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, one of the world's largest telecoms equipment makers, on Monday posted a 40 percent rise in first-half sales revenue and said it would "maintain current momentum" this year.

Sales revenue reached 245.5 billion yuan ($36.8 billion) in the first six months of 2016, the company said in a statement. Operating margin fell to 12 percent from 18 percent in the previous half-year, it said.

The Shenzhen-based private company, which competes with Sweden's Ericsson for the top spot in the global market for telecoms equipment, did not elaborate in its brief statement.

"We are confident that Huawei will maintain its current momentum, and round out the full year in a positive financial position backed by sound ongoing operations," Chief Financial Officer Sabrina Meng said in the statement.

"We achieved steady growth across all three of our business groups, thanks to a well-balanced global presence," Meng said, referring to the company's telecom, consumer device and enterprise business segments.

The company earlier this year set a revenue target of $75 billion for 2016.

Last year, Huawei reported a 30 percent rise in first-half revenue.

($1 = 6.6716 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Yimou Lee; Editing by Christopher Cushing)