Financial Times: Sony Ericsson warned yesterday that it would only break even in the second quarter because of disappointing European sales of its mid and high-end mobile phones.
The profit warning – its second this year – demonstrates the Japanese-Swedish joint venture’s continuing problems, but also indicates how mobile phone sales are suffering from the global economic downturn.
In the first quarter it reported a 47 per cent year-on-year fall in pre-tax profits to €193m on sales down 8 per cent to €2.7bn.
The mobile phone maker indicated at the time that its second-quarter results would also suffer, but investors were still surprised by the warning.
Sony Ericsson’s warning has dashed any remaining hopes that global handset sales might bounce back this year.
According to research firm Gartner, global sales fell 16.4 per cent in the first quarter year-on-year, the first recorded annual fall.
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