Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd, the mobile-phone venture of Sony Corp and Ericsson AB, said it would report a pretax loss of as much as 390 million euros (US$534 million) in the first quarter as handset sales decline.
The anticipated loss excludes restructuring charges of 10 million euros to 20 million euros, the London-based company said in a statement today. Sony Ericsson is cutting at least 2,000 jobs globally as demand for its handsets shrinks.
“Net sales and net income before taxes in the first quarter of 2009 continue to be negatively affected by weak consumer demand as well as de-stocking in the retail and distribution channels,” the company said in the release.
Sony Ericsson plans to ship about 14 million phones in the first quarter at an average selling price of 120 euros per phone. In the fourth quarter, the venture shipped 24.2 million phones at an average price of 121 euros. The company also anticipated its gross margin in the fourth quarter would decline from the preceding three months and the year-earlier period.
In the fourth quarter, the gross margin, or sales minus manufacturing costs, fell by more than half to 15 percent. The company plans to release its full earnings for the quarter on April 17, it said yesterday.
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