Earnings: Sony Ericsson Doesn’t Impress With Profit Warning (Q1 2009)
Rough seas ahead for Sony Ericsson.
Sony Ericsson has been on a losing streak. Seriously. Two quarters ago (Q3 2008), the conglomerate/duo announced that it lost 25 million euros (~$34 million USD). Last quarter (Q4 2008), the company lost 187 million euros. And now, SE is about to land it’s biggest loss in a long time: 340 million euros. And that’s on the low end.
The profit warning press release was the shortest I’ve press release I’ve seen in a long time – 4 sentences short, to be exact. Here’s the expected data for Q1 2009:
- Expected to ship 14 million phones
- Average selling price of 120 euros
- Gross margin expected to fall
- Net loss in the range of 340 – 390 million euros
So what’s the problem? Basically, the company hasn’t capitalized on the smartphone and touch-screen boom as much as it could have. The Xperia X1, Sony Ericsson’s latest flagship smartphone, received only so-so reviews, and the next big thing (the Idou) won’t be coming until the latter part of this year.
Reason number two is simply bigger and better competition. Competition from Apple, Nokia, HTC, Samsung, and LG is heating up the mobile phone wars, and (as of now) Sony Ericsson’s caught in the middle with its pants down. Not a good spot to be in.
[...] Sony Ericsson sent out a press release earlier today that included a section called “Q1 Highlights”. There were only three bullet points. And the first was “Income before taxes was a loss of Euro 358 million (excl. restructuring charges)”…but we must remember, it could have been worse. [...]
I heard that too . . . Sony Ericsson is doing quite well in the world market. anyhow I still dig for this brand . . user friendly they are and more durable than ther leading cellphone brands. I got a K530i.