Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Lenovo Group Ltd., the world’s fourth- largest personal-computer maker, jumped the most in a month in Hong Kong trading after announcing a management reshuffle.

Lenovo rose 11 percent to close at HK$1.62, the most since Jan. 6, and compared with the 3.6 percent gain in the benchmark Hang Seng Index. Volume at 382 million shares was five times the three-month average. The company said yesterday Chief Executive Officer William Amelio was replaced by Chairman Yang Yuanqing, while founder Liu Chuanzhi returned as chairman.

The departure of Amelio, a former Dell Inc. executive, returns Lenovo’s management to Chinese control and signals a renewed focus on China. The Raleigh, North Carolina-based company lost global market share to Hewlett-Packard Co. and Acer Inc. as its sales in the Americas, its second biggest market, plunged.

“The chairman coming back is positive in terms of sentiment for the company,” said Gokul Hariharan, who rates the stock “underweight” at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Taipei. “The underlying fundamentals aren’t going to improve quickly.” He predicts the stock will fall to as low as HK$1.19.

The management reshuffle followed the $96.7 million quarterly loss reported by the company yesterday. That’s triple the median loss projection of four analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

‘Important Market’

Sales in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong fell 6.5 percent in the last quarter from a year earlier, while revenue in the Americas region dropped 22 percent, Lenovo said.

“China remains our most important market,” Amelio said on a conference call yesterday. “While the China PC market is now growing at a slower rate than the rest of world, we know this market will recover and return to robust growth.”

China was the only one of Lenovo’s four regions to post an operating profit, falling to $97 million for the period from $122 million a year earlier.

“The next several quarters will remain very challenging for Lenovo,” the company said. Lenovo plans to “adjust its business model” to tap demand for lower-cost products, it said.

Lenovo, which was founded in China, had its share of global computer shipments drop to 7.2 percent in the quarter, from 7.5 percent a year earlier, according to research firm IDC.

Amelio failed to boost the company’s market share or its stock during his tenure, with Lenovo accounting for 7.3 percent of global PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2005, according to IDC data. Lenovo shares lost 61 percent since he took office in December 2005 until yesterday, underperforming a 13 percent drop in the benchmark Hang Seng index in the period.

The company acquired the PC business of International Business Machines Corp. in 2005 as part of a $1.75 billion transaction aimed at boosting its global reach.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Lee in Hong Kong at Wlee37@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 6, 2009 05:46 EST