Sony Ericsson posts $301M net loss

Sony Ericsson reported its fourth straight quarterly loss. Although it was less than the market had expected, the troubled handset maker is bracing itself for a rough second half of 2009.

The company, which lost market share in the second quarter, posted a $301 million net loss, down from an $8.48 million profit in the year-ago quarter. The loss was better than the $421.4 million loss analysts were expecting and an improvement over the $386 million loss the joint venture experienced in the first quarter. Much of that improvement is attributable to job cuts; when Sony Ericsson announced its first quarter results it also said it would slash 2,000 jobs.

"As expected, the second quarter was challenging and we still believe the remainder of the year will be difficult for Sony Ericsson," President Dick Komiyama said in a statement. "Our focus remains on bringing the company back to profitability and growth as quickly as possible. Our performance is starting to improve due to our cost reduction activities."

The company said its market share fell to 5 percent, compared with 6 percent in the first quarter. Sales fell 40 percent to $2.38 billion, down from $3.98 billion in the year-ago quarter. The company shipped 13.8 million units in the quarter, down 43 percent from the 24.4 million it shipped in the second quarter last year and down from the 14.5 million it shipped in the first quarter. The one bright spot for the company was that its average selling price climbed to $172.53 in the quarter, up from $164 in the year-ago quarter.

The handset maker's financial position has been precarious of late. In May, Sony said its joint venture with Ericsson would seek to raise at least $135.5 million in new funds by next March.

For more:
- see this release [1]
- see this Dow Jones Newswires article [2] (sub. req.)
- see this Reuters article [3]

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[6]Sony Ericsson working on Android 2.0 [7] phones
[8]Sony, Ericsson may inject cash into joint venture [9]
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