First numbers in the third quarter for the handset sector are out.....and they look great.
biz.yahoo.com
Sony Ericsson: Net Profit Almost Tripled
Wednesday October 11, 10:22 am ET
By Matt Moore, AP Business Writer
Sony Ericsson to Report That Net Profits Almost Tripled to euro298 Million
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson will report that its third-quarter earnings almost tripled because of consumer demand for its improved camera and music phones.
The results were scheduled to be released Thursday but a copy of an internal company e-mail detailing the earnings report was sent out Wednesday to Dow Jones Newswires. A copy of that e-mail was seen by The Associated Press.
ADVERTISEMENT
The world's No. 5 handset maker said in the e-mail that net profit nearly tripled to 298 million euros ($373.78 million) in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, compared to 104 million euros ($130.45 million) in the same quarter last year.
Quarterly sales rose 42 percent to 2.91 billion euros ($3.65 billion) from 2.05 billion euros ($2.57 billion) a year earlier. Analysts polled by SME Direkt had predicted a sales increase of 16 percent to 2.4 billion euros ($3.01 billion).
The London-based company, a joint venture of Japan's Sony Corp. and Sweden's LM Ericsson, said the number of handsets shipped rose 43 percent to 19.8 million in the third quarter, compared with 13.8 million in the same period last year.
"The third quarter saw Sony Ericsson reap the success of hit products announced earlier in the year such as the high-end K800 and W810, mid-range K610 and lower-priced W300 and K310," Sony Ericsson Chief Executive Miles Flint said in the statement.
He said the K800, which has a 3.2 megapixel camera under the Sony Cyber-Shot brand name, helped drive sales in the high-end market, while increased demand for its W810 Walkman-branded music playing phone caused a sales surge among its lower-end products, including the W300 and K310 models.
"Our strategy of using flagship products to give Sony Ericsson a lead position within a product category such as imaging with the Cyber-shot megapixel camera phone or music with the Walkman lineup is creating a halo effect over lower-end models," he said.
The company reiterated its previous growth forecast, adding growth in the global handset market continued to outpace expectations and predicted global mobile phone sales will reach more than 950 million units, up from the previous estimate of above 900 million units |
