Moto's Top Customers in 2007
>> Motorola Says U.S. Exposure Increased in 2007
Sinead Carew
Reuters (New York)
February 28, 2008
tinyurl.com
Motorola Inc's (MOT.N:) dependence on the U.S. market increased in 2007 as 46 percent of its cell phone sales were in the United States, up from 35 percent in 2006, raising exposure to economic weakness here.
Motorola said in its annual report filed on Thursday that the company, which sells network equipment and television set-top boxes as well as phones, saw U.S. sales rise to 51 percent of the total in 2007 from 44 percent in 2006.
Its five biggest clients contributed 42 percent of its mobile phone sales, Motorola said. Its top handset client in 2007 was struggling U.S. phone service Sprint Nextel (S.N). Its shares closed down 4.4 percent at $10.40 after a sell-off triggered by a gloomy subscriber outlook at No. 3 U.S. mobile service Sprint, as well as U.S. economic concerns as investors reacted to data showing weakness in U.S. jobs.
Motorola said that no single customer represented more than 10 percent of its sales in 2007.
It said last month it was considering options such as a separation of its mobile devices business, which has been losing global market share to rivals such as Nokia Oyj (NOK1V.HE) and Samsung Electronics (005930.KS:).
Motorola said that its biggest handset markets outside the United States were Brazil, China and Mexico in 2007.
It said that the cell phone industry showed strong growth with shipments of 1.14 billion units in 2007, up 16 percent from 2006.
But it cited industry forecasters' expectations for growth to slow in the next several years to the 10 percent range from a 20 percent average growth rate from 2003 to 2007.
Rounding its top five clients behind Sprint were: AT&T Inc (T.N:), Verizon Wireless, China Mobile (0941.HK:), and Mexico's America Movil (AMXL.MX). ###
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