Hail the returning hero. Liu Chuanzhi, the founder of Lenovo who reassumed the chairmanship in February, has so far talked a good turnround. The first evidence came yesterday: a return to profit from June to September after three quarters of losses.

What got the world’s fourth-largest PC maker into trouble was its binary structure: an excellent greater China business, with industry-leading market share and operating margins, and a ho-hum international one, vulnerable to last year’s collapse in corporate demand. Thanks to vigorous cost-cutting in the US and Europe, the picture is more nuanced. China – where the market is growing at about 16 per cent a year – remains dominant, accounting for 49 per cent of total revenues, up from 44 per cent six months ago. Developed markets are still iffy, with a year-on-year increase of just 0.4 per cent in total PC sales. But Lenovo’s range of entry-level machines is galvanising the new emerging markets division, where shipments were up a 10th.