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Aug. 31 (NBD) -- ZTE Corp (000063.SZ), the world's fourth-largest telecommunications equipment maker by market shares, delivered its worst-ever H1 financial report on Thursday as the U.S. imposed a seven-year ban on purchasing U.S. parts in April. 

During the first six months, the company grossed 39.4 billion yuan (5.8 billion U.S. dollars) in revenue, down 26.99 percent year on year, and -7.8 billion yuan (-1.1 billion U.S. dollars) in net profit attributable to shareholders, down 441.24 percent year on year.

The ban was later lifted by the U.S. on the condition of a one-billion-U.S. dollar fine, adding financial burden to the company.

However, ZTE never stopped investing in R&D with 5.06 billion yuan (741.4 million U.S. dollars) going to R&D work in areas such as 5G, core network, bearer service and chips during that period.

The company expects to make a profit of about 24.2 million yuan (3.5 million U.S. dollars) to 1 billion yuan (146.5 million U.S. dollars) in the third quarter of this year, ZTE said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. 

In August, ZTE completed the 3rd phase for NSA 3.5GHz outfield test of IMT-2020 (5G) propulsion group and next, it will move to NSA 4.9 GHz and SA tests.

ZTE CEO Xu Ziyang noted at a shareholders' meeting that the company has been placing focus on the key businesses and cutting back on non-core businesses in order to embrace 5G.

ZTE's carrier network business is expected to resume normal growth in 2019 and the 5G network is projected to experience fast expansion in 2020, Xu added.

Email: tanyuhan@nbd.com.cn